Why a roster ‘headache’ could help the KC Current make a push for the NWSL postseason

In most professional leagues, the team sitting in last place two-thirds of the way through its season would have next to no chance of making the postseason.

Welcome to the NWSL, where that is not the case.

The Kansas City Current are also unlike most last-place teams. Their record in regular season play — 5 wins, 10 losses, no draws, and a minus-9 goal differential — doesn’t necessarily reflect the quality of the roster when healthy or largely complete.

But that hasn’t been the case for much of the year.

Health isn’t much of a question anymore, and the Current have been trending up since the calendar turned from May to June. They’re 6-3-1 in all competitions, having scored 18 goals while conceding only nine. They’ve kept five clean sheets in that stretch.

A team that went 3-1-1 while Debinha was at the World Cup will get its star back for a matchup with OL Reign on Friday night. That match kicks off at 7 p.m. from Children’s Mercy Park.

To add to the surging squad, two new defensive signings, Lauren Eduarda Leal Costa, better known as Lauren, and Stine Ballisager Pedersen, will join the team in the coming weeks, and Hanna Glas and Claire Lavogez are very near returning from injuries.

Interim coach Caroline Sjöblom and her staff will have to work quickly to integrate those players into the squad (and in some cases, back into the squad).

“It’s going to be a headache for me, and that’s how I wanted it to be,” Sjöblom said. “That every practice is important for the player to show how good they are so they can be in the starting lineup.”

Each Current position group has had players miss time this season, but the back line has had the most extended issues.

While the Current have brought in two new center backs to help with their issues, Elizabeth Ball and rookie Gabrielle Robinson have played well of late, creating competition for spots on the defense.

Even so, Ballisager and Lauren have a pedigree at the international level that most on the back line don’t, starting every match at the World Cup for their respective countries. Sjöblom expects them to be quickly integrated when they arrive, which looks like next week at the earliest.

“They’re good on the ball and also good defensive players,” Sjöblom said. “Stine is a leader, really experienced. And Lauren is a brave player in possession and also is brave in different situations.”

So which players will end up securing starting spots? With Glas returning, will she push Kate Del Fava for her place, which has been locked down since the beginning of last season?

It’s entirely plausible the Current will feature three new starting faces on defense in the coming weeks.

One situation that might have resolved itself is the left-back role. The Current very clearly have been committed to running with a back four in 2023. And from the get-go, Hailie Mace expressed some discomfort in that role.

“I don’t like it as much because I don’t feel I have as much freedom to get up and down the field,” Mace said after the season-opening loss to North Carolina.

When there are three defenders at the back, and Mace and another player are split out wide, they have more freedom to move forward and attack. With a back four, the left and right backs have more defensive responsibility, and it can be a risk for them to go forward as aggressively.

When Sjöblom took over, she clarified she preferred a back four. A solution she wanted to explore was moving Mace higher up the field and onto the forward line. That required someone else to step up and take over at left back, which Izzy Rodriguez has done.

Rodriguez is a more natural left back who is capable of providing strong service. As she’s filled that role, Mace has been able to play as a winger. In the second half of the Current’s recent Challenge Cup victory over Racing Louisville, Mace was subbed on in that position at halftime and finished with a goal and assist.

“It’s been fun,” Mace said during a press conference. “I feel like I have more freedom to play up top.”

And that only adds to the roster decisions that Sjöblom and her staff are regularly making — as they hope for a late surge up the standings.

As of Thursday, the Current sat just six points out of a playoff spot. That’s the good news.

The bad news is there are still six teams between them and a playoff position. It will require a torrid run down the stretch for that to change significantly.

“We have calculated different scenarios and, of course, it’s about what the other teams out there are doing,” Sjöblom said. “So the results need to go our way, but we have the opportunity to be there.”