KC Current dominates Palmeiras in first match of inaugural Teal Rising Cup
With a lineup of mostly backups, the Kansas City Current dominated Brazilian club Palmeiras 3-0 in the inaugural Teal Rising Cup tournament.
The Current will face Brazilian club Corinthians SC in the tournament championship on Tuesday at 8 p.m. The club is currently on an international break from National Women’s Soccer League play and hasn’t played since June 20.
KC is in first in the league standings.
Palmeiras, who is currently a 4-seed in the Brasileirão Feminino playoffs and also on an international break, played some of its starters and key role players. But KC had more than enough to answer.
Left winger Haley Hopkins led the Current attack with a first-half brace, and midfielder Bayley Feist grabbed both assists.
“Bayley Feist made it pretty easy,” Hopkins said after the match. “They make our lives easy when we’re up top and lay it on a platter for us, and it’s the least we could do for all their hard work.”
In the 34th minute, right winger Nichelle Prince took the ball up the right flank into the box and sent a cross to Feist, who tipped it just right so it landed in front of Hopkins in the middle of the box. That led to the first goal.
Midfielder Flora Marta Lacho began the sequence to the second goal in the 43rd minute with a great dispossession. Feist took control of the ball and sent it to a streaking Hopkins, who used her right foot to loft the ball over the keeper.
Lacho forced a Palmeiras own goal in the 50th minute. She sent a cross into the box from the right wing, and it bounced off goalkeeper Ravena Silva into the net. The Current held possession for 56% of the match and outshot the Brazilian club 21-12.
In the 88th minute, Feist was given a red card after bumping Palmeiras defender Emily de Carvalho, which led to words being exchanged between players of both clubs.
Hopkins enjoyed the physicality of the game, especially with a non-American team.
“I can’t lie, it’s fun to be competitive, and there’s a language barrier there, so no one really knew what anybody was saying, which kind of made it even more fun,” Hopkins said.
Palmeiras head coach Camilla Orlando said her players had to adjust to the Current’s quick attack and pressing strategy, tactics they don’t see often in Brazil.
Current coach Vlatko Andonovski, meanwhile, said he was proud of the squad of players who rarely get minutes during league play. The Current has hosted several international teams during international breaks, an element of the schedule that allows the team to adjust to different styles of play it may not see in the NWSL.
“We didn’t know what to expect, so we had to change things throughout the game,” Andonovski said. “For all the players that were on the field, to execute the game plan and the changes and to adjust in the run of play, I think that they did an exceptional job.”
Several young players saw extended minutes for the first time this season. Teenage phenoms striker Mary Long, daughter of Current owners Angie and Chris Long, and right back Katie Scott got their first professional starts and played the entire match.
The match saw the return of star midfielder Lo LaBonta, who suffered a knee injury in her last appearance for the United States Women’s National Team in June, and 17-year-old winger Alex Pfeiffer, who suffered a torn ACL and meniscus last July and made a heart with her hands to the crowd before she ran onto the pitch.
“It was great to see them back on the field,” Andonovski said. “Ideally, we would like to see both of them for a little bit longer, but we’re going to see that in the upcoming matches.”
The Current also debuted an amateur player, 16-year-old defender Meila Brewer, thanks to a rule in the NWSL’s latest collective bargaining agreement that allows players who haven’t signed letters of intent to play in exhibition matches. Brewer has been training with the club since last year.
The Current didn’t know much about Palmeiras before the match, and KC doesn’t know much about Corinthians either. But from the looks of the scoresheet, the opponent doesn’t alter the Current’s pressing and attacking run of play.
KC plans to continue the same game plan and continue rotating the lineup in hopes of winning the first edition of the home tournament before a return to league play Aug. 1.
“I just know that they’re (a) very quality team, and it’s not going to be an easy game for us,” Andonovski said about Corinthians. “But that’s why we invited them, because we wanted good opponents, good games and to put up a good show for the fans.”
In the first match of the day, Corinthians beat the Chicago Stars 1-0 thanks to a second-half stoppage-time goal from Letícia Teles off a free kick.
Chicago will play Palmeiras on Tuesday at 5 p.m.
This story was originally published July 12, 2025 at 10:47 PM.
