Kansas City Current on brink of missing postseason after loss to Angel City: recap

The Kansas City Current have needed everything to go right since the NWSL restart — as far as making the postseason is concerned. That meant they could ill afford any losses down the stretch.

Let alone a draw and a loss in two straight matches.

That loss came on Friday night. The Current fell 1-0 to Angel City FC at Children’s Mercy Park.

“We allowed Angel City to come here and dictate the game,” interim coach Caroline Sjöblom said. “That was not part of the game plan. It turned into chaos, a transitional game, instead of us controlling possession and controlling the tempo today.”

The Current pushed hard for an early goal, which left them susceptible to counter-attacking play from Angel City. But goalkeeper AD Franch came up big multiple times to keep the visitors off the board.

“We thought that we were going to have an advantage in the midfield with three players to their two,” Sjöblom said. “But they won the midfield game today, and they transitioned every time they won the ball.”

The Current’s best chance came in the first half, when an attempt from Kristen Hamilton was saved by Angel City’s Angelina Anderson.

Angel City found the breakthrough about 20 minutes into the second half. A pass by Jasmyne Spencer was deflected and found its way back to her. She slotted a shot past Franch to make it 1-0.

Despite the return of Claire Lavogez, the Current didn’t have an equalizer in them, even with 10 minutes of stoppage time. However, Lavogez was a bright spot in her return.

She entered the game in the 80th minute to a raucous ovation — her first appearance in 320 days. The Blue Crew supporters section even sang a rendition of the Roy Kent chant from Ted Lasso, but replaced Kent’s name with Lavogez.

“I was so happy,” Lavogez said after the match. “You know, it was a long process and I’m so happy. I don’t have words, because it was so hard and when I came in it was amazing.”

The loss dropped the Current to 6-1-11 on the season, which will likely see them stay in 11th place. Depending on other results around the league the rest of the weekend, they could move further than the five points out of the playoff line they currently are.

Their next match, however, is a playoff of sorts.

On Wednesday, the Current’s focus will shift to the North Carolina Courage in the Challenge Cup semifinal round, which will be at Children’s Mercy Park with a 7 p.m. kickoff.

With the NWSL playoffs further out of the picture, the Challenge Cup gives the Current an opportunity to play for a trophy.

“It’s really good for this group to still have something to hunt for,” Sjöblom said. “Of course we are hunting for the playoffs, but we know we need to win the rest of the games. So for the group to have the Challenge Cup (and) maybe be in a final, that’s fantastic for us.”

If the Current can prevail, the Challenge Cup final would be held at Children’s Mercy Park on Saturday, Sept. 9, at 11:30 a.m. Central.

This story was originally published September 1, 2023 at 9:30 PM.