Kansas City Current star Temwa Chawinga’s greatness isn’t talked about enough

Temwa Chawinga’s greatness isn’t talked about enough.

A moment late in Sunday’s match laid out the exact reason people should talk about her much, much more.

The Kansas City Current led 2-1 late against the top-of-the-table Portland Thorns. After returning from injury weeks ago, Chawinga — the reigning back-to-back MVP of the National Women’s Soccer League — had yet to go past the 80th minute.

As the clock ticked past 90 and into stoppage time, Chawinga was defending deep near the top of the Current’s penalty area. The ball trickled out to Ellie Bravo-Young, who booted the ball as far as she could away from goal, but also into the path of a soon-to-be sprinting Chawinga.

Chawinga told The Star after the match that she knew she had to chase down the ball to give the team a bit of breathing room.

“I just needed to run and take that ball, and just continue going forward,” Chawinga said.

For her, it was better than absorbing more pressure and having to defend longer. It wasn’t about chasing a goal, but about making a team-first play.

Thorns defender Reyna Reyes had a good 5-10 yards of separation between her and Chawinga as the two took off. It wasn’t nearly enough. Chawinga won the race right on the halfway line, heading the ball past Reyes, bouncing off a physical challenge and tearing in on goal.

The nervous crowd at CPKC Stadium immediately began to roar as she bore down on goal. She then dished to Haley Hopkins, who iced the game by making it 3-1.

Chris Armas praised Chawinga’s effort on that final play.

“When you talk about the very best players in the world — and she’s in that class — so many things can be talked about,” Armas said. “We know she’s the competitor, talent, speed, she’s got technique. There’s not much she can’t do.

“But her will to win puts her in this upper tier.”

Temwa Chawinga’s inevitability

In that moment, there could be just one word to describe how quickly the atmosphere changed inside the stadium:

Inevitability.

Surrounding all great athletes is a sense of inevitability.

Game tied with a minute on the clock, and Patrick Mahomes is getting the ball? You know what’s coming. Near-perfect execution down the field in chunks to get the game-winning field goal as time expires.

In Lionel Messi’s Barcelona prime, and even during his time with Inter Miami, he’d make a couple of one-touch give-and-goes in the midfield, cutting inside from his wide position, then swinging a pass out to Jordi Alba. Soccer fans around the world knew exactly what was coming. The pass from Alba would meet Messi at the penalty spot for an easy one-time finish.

Inevitable.

Chawinga’s speed alone is elite. But her speed with the ball at her feet, ability to change direction and ability to leverage defenders’ momentum are something few players in the world possess.

So when she gets on the ball in space? That same sense of inevitability takes over. Not just for herself but for her teammates and, especially, her opponents.

The Thorns were so concerned with Chawinga in that moment that the two defenders who went to try to force her onto her left foot completely abdicated the space that Hopkins was targeting with her run forward.

When Hopkins saw Chawinga win the challenge, she knew she had to get going — and fast.

“Keeping up with Temwa is hard, and I ran my hardest,” Hopkins said.

The ultimate problem eraser

Dating back to Chawinga’s injury at the end of the 2025 season, the Current is 2-5-0 without her, with a goal differential of minus-6. Since her return to the field in April, KC is 5-2-0 with a goal differential of plus-4 (not including the Teal Rising Cup).

While given somewhat of an acknowledgment substitution at the end of the match Sunday, Chawinga played well over 90 minutes for the first time this season. Her goal and assist were again vital to the Current’s result.

Chawinga told The Star that she was happy to hit the 90-minute mark Sunday, largely for what it meant in her recovery from the hip injury she sustained late in the 2025 season.

“I played seven, eight games not at 90 minutes,” Chawinga said, “But now, hitting 90, my body, little by little, I’m coming back strong. So I’m very happy with the way the technical staff and the medical team helped me a lot.”

The Current is not a perfect team in 2026. The midfield isn’t the most defensively sound. And, at times, the defense hasn’t been up to the very high (probably unfairly high) standard the team set last season.

The team has struggled to find a consistently productive central striker since Bia Zaneratto did not return this year. The Current has even struggled to finish despite the high number of goals scored.

Would you believe that the Current has underperformed its league-leading xG by four goals?

The team is still very, very talented. But it has its flaws. Chawinga more than covers those flaws. And when she’s at her best, she simultaneously unlocks the best of everyone else.

A humble star

Chawinga rarely wants to talk about the great things she does. She would rather deflect praise onto her teammates than talk about how awesome it was to notch a hat-trick. She would rather credit that pass to her run than her run.

Some star players wouldn’t have sprinted after the ball, after the clearance from Bravo-Young, like Chawinga did. Some wouldn’t have made that pass to Hopkins, instead using the run from Hopkins as a screen to work back toward the goal and take the shot all alone.

But that’s just not who she is. Her work ethic and her humility have earned the respect of teammates and opponents alike. Just ask Sophia Wilson.

Wilson scored her eighth goal against the Current all-time on Sunday. As Chawinga wrapped up her interview with The Star, Wilson came up and gave her a hug. She quipped that Chawinga needed to stop scoring.

As Armas mentioned, she has everything a star player should possess.

“What I think puts her not in a class by herself but this really special class is this humility and running for the team and putting the team first,” Armas said. “By the end of that play, to see her in this golden boot race, where her teammates say, ‘You are in that race’ — she shares the ball, upgrades the shot and gives it to her teammate.

He added: “I think that says it all about who we have here.”