Kansas City Current interim coach’s plea as losses mount: Be more physical defensively
Roughly a third of the way through the National Women’s Soccer League’s 2023 season, the Kansas City Current sit a disappointing second-to-last in the standings.
Two wins. Six losses. No draws.
And there are plenty of reasons for the Current’s slide as they prepare to play host to the Houston Dash on Friday at 7 p.m.
As interim head coach Caroline Sjöblom dissected KC”s most recent defeat — she watched that 2-0 home loss to Racing Louisville last weekend four times over — she became convinced that the Current showed a lack of effort at times.
“We didn’t do enough,” Sjöblom said. “We didn’t make the effort to run enough, to defend enough and work for each other.”
Sjöblom called out her players for not fighting through their tired legs and urged them to play with a more collective spirit.
“If your teammate makes a mistake, you can’t start to dig and let the emotions take over,” Sjöblom said. “You need to sprint more, show you want to have the ball more.”
The Current appeared to be outworked and outhustled by a team that was even less rested.
Knowing they had to play Racing Louisville twice in four days (KC lost at Louisville the Wednesday prior), the Current coaching staff tried to mix up their starting personnel Saturday. Racing Louisville ran out nearly identical lineups in both matches.
Once game time arrived Saturday, Louisville put in more tackles, won more duels and played more physical soccer than the Current.
Having attackers who want to operate in space and play higher up the field helps, and the Current have that. But the Current struggled to win the ball back on defense and keep the ball out of the back of the net.
“They want to be in the attacking half, they want to combine, they want to do fun things with the ball, but they don’t really want to do that hard work all the time,” Sjöblom said. “So I think we need to change that mentality when we defend.”
That was part of the emphasis for the team’s training sessions this week. The Current’s drills were focused on being more physical with tackles, and even taking yellow cards when necessary.
Looking at the Current’s record and what awaits on the schedule, this season’s start feels somewhat similar to 2022. While things were bright and shiny by late October, the Current were winless entering their Memorial Day weekend matchup.
That match ignited a 13-game unbeaten streak that catapulted the Current to the top of the NWSL standings and, eventually, a berth in the league’s championship game.
A run like that is likely unrepeatable. But it must start with doing the little things right. And that’s the focus veteran forward Kristen Hamilton wants to see from here on out.
“Our focus is controlling the controllable, control our effort, put in a lot of effort, and then hopefully things start to turn around,” she said. “That’s kind of the same energy we had last year. We knew it was gonna come if we kept working hard and staying together.”