Kansas City Current end 5-game losing skid. Here’s what changed in win vs. NC Courage

The Kansas City Current returned to their winning ways on Saturday night, ending their five-game losing streak with a 1-0 victory over the North Carolina Courage at Children’s Mercy Park.

In what was a more patient approach, the Current (3-7-0) let the Courage have more of the possession in the first half. Despite a 70% to 30% advantage there, North Carolina did not even attempt a shot in the half.

Current interim head coach Caroline Sjöblom said the club planned to be compact defensively to frustrate North Carolina — by limiting space in between the midfield and back line.

“We know that North Carolina want to be in those pockets and they want to put the ball there,” Sjöblom said. “So we have been practicing to be more out of possession and just move, step and drop together as a team, like a unit.”

Given the way the Courage wanted to play, the Current knew it would frustrate them by giving the Courage defenders a lot of time on the ball.

“We could see that the central defenders didn’t know where to pass the ball when we didn’t press them directly,” Sjöblom said.

It’s only a good plan if it works, though. And to get a victory, the Current needed to score, something they’d failed to do in three straight home matches.

The Current opened the scoring inside the first 10 minutes, as two former Courage players combined for the goal.

Debinha found herself with time and space inside the box and played a pass to Kristen Hamilton.

Hamilton calmly put her shot into the goal, which ended the Current’s scoring drought in NWSL play at 307 minutes. They had scored only two goals in their last four matches in all competitions, both in Challenge Cup play.

“We’ve been really excited since (Debinha) got here to play together again,” Hamilton said “We obviously played together for a while at the Courage, and we had a lot of fun doing it.

“Anytime Deb gets in and around the box, we know to get numbers in there too. ... I saw the defense dropping, so I just kind of pulled off into the pocket, and she found me.”

The match turned physical in the second half with four yellow cards, including three to the Courage for some hard fouls. Lo LaBonta was on the receiving end of a few of them, but the Current also seemed willing to dish it back out, too.

Sjöblom had been looking for more physicality, and the club responded.

“Every single person from the back line to the front is putting their body on the line,” said goalkeeper Cassie Miller, who earned her third shutout of the season. “I think that’s what we need to do to get these results.”

Next up, the Current travel out west to take on OL Reign in Seattle next Saturday, with a 9 p.m. Central kickoff.

This story was originally published June 3, 2023 at 9:53 PM.