Match Preview: Kansas City Current look for sweep against Angel City

The Kansas City Current (4-0-1, 13pts., 1st place) head to Southern California to play Angel City FC (2-2-1, 7pts., 7th place) Friday, April 26 at 9 p.m. CT. The match is the first for Kansas City on Prime Video with Mike Watts, Lori Lindsey and Kealia Watt on the call. Fans in Kansas City can listen to the match with Dave Borchardt and Jillian Carroll Letrinko on 90.9 The Bridge FM or on the KC Current app, along with a Spanish language radio broadcast. 

The NWSL’s hottest team, the Kansas City Current enter Friday’s match as one of three unbeaten teams in the league, but the only one with four wins. With 13 points the Current are at the top of the table, but only five points ahead of seventh place Angel City.  

This Friday is the first of three straight matches on the road for the Current as the team travels to face Angel City FC at BMO Stadium. The Current defeated Angel City already once this season, getting a 4-2 win at home March 30.  

Vanessa DiBernardo, who scored the first goal ever at CPKC Stadium, got the action started early. Forward Temwa Chawinga found the veteran midfielder to the right of goal in the sixth minute and DiBernardo wasted no time in slotting the ball into the upper corner of the net. Not done yet, DiBernardo then served up a cross from the right side where forward Alexa Spaanstra was able to run on and head it inside the far post.  

Chawinga got on the scoresheet in the second half after Angel City had cut the lead to 2-1. As forward Bia Zaneratto spun her defender off the ball, Chawinga ran open on the right side. Bia slotted an easy pass to the wide-open Malawian who netted her first career NWSL goal shortly after that.  

Angel City would score one more time to get within a goal, but Bia put the nail in the coffin in stoppage time. As the Current sent a cross into the Angel City penalty box, the visiting goalkeeper came out to punch the ball away, but a poorly hit block instead sent the ball straight to Bia who used the outside of her foot to arc a shot over the entire defense and into the net, sealing a 4-2 Kansas City win. 

Last week the Current got a brace each from Bia and Chawinga, plus a first goal from Bayley Feist and a pair of assists from DiBernardo to entertain a third-straight sold out crowd at CPKC Stadium with a 5-2 victory over visiting Bay FC.  

Angel City earned their second victory of the season at home against the North Carolina Courage. The Courage outshot Angel City 15-5 and held a 38% time possession advantage, but the home side jumped on their limited opportunities and found two goals against the run of play and then held on for the 2-1 win.  

PLAYERS TO WATCH 
Kansas City Current midfielder Bayley Feist – Feist is in her first season with the Current after having spent the past four seasons with the Washington Spirit. Signing as a free agent in the offseason, Feist has added valuable depth to the club. Filling in for the injured midfielder Lo’eau LaBonta, Feist has stepped right in and helped to control the Kansas City midfield, while adding in her first goal with the Current.  

Angel City forward Claire Emslie – The Scottish forward scored three goals each in her first two years with Angel City. Through five games of 2024, Emslie has already matched that mark and is searching for more. Last week she scored her first brace as she jumped on two North Carolina mistakes and led her team to their first home win of the season.  

GOALS! GOALS! GOALS!  
2024 has seen the Kansas City Current scoring power explode. Through five games, the team has scored 17 goals from 10 different players. Both of those figures set club and league records for this point in the season. Chawinga and Bia have led the way, with four goals and two assists while DiBernardo has two goals and four assists. To put this in perspective, in the club’s first season of 2021 the team scored only 14 goals from 11 different players. On the way to the NWSL Championship in 2022, the Current scored 29 goals from only six different scorers.  

At a pace of 3.4 goals per game, the Current are on pace to score 88 goals in 2024. The NWSL record, set in 2019 by the North Carolina Courage, is 54 goals. Since 2016, the team that scores the most goals in the season has gone on to win the NWSL Championship four times.  

RIVERFRONT DISTRICT 
The Kansas City Current, in collaboration with Palmer Square Capital Management, Marquee Development, and the Port Authority of Kansas City, Missouri unveiled plans this week for the next phase of its transformational development on the Missouri Riverfront in downtown Kansas City. 

To continue KC Current’s unprecedented commitment to women’s sports and the Kansas City region, this next phase will add $200mm+ in private funding, with all phases of the development exceeding $800mm in total investment. The project will break ground at the end of 2024, targeting a 2026 completion date. Along with adding hundreds of multi-family residential units to the neighborhood, the project will create new public gathering and recreational spaces intended for all Kansas Citians – including a new town square and a riverfront promenade – continuing the work by Port KC to bring life and vibrancy to the Missouri Riverfront.