“It’s unreal,” defender Ellie Wheeler told reporters after the match. “I think it’s just so special and so deserving for how much work we put in and just how we look towards every single game and the focus we have… We’re definitely gonna, you know, acknowledge what we’ve done and the history we’ve made, and celebrate that, and then obviously get back to work, but enjoy it while we can.”

As the 10 minutes of stoppage time ticked away, the humongous teal Tiffany & Co. box made its way down to the pitch. The CPKC Stadium crowd roared, the platform appeared and the Current lined up in their freshly-printed Shield-winner shirts – which promptly sold out at the team store within 20 minutes of the ceremony ending.

Kansas City now has an untouchable 53 points and a 17-2-2 record with five matches remaining in the regular season. Winning the Shield also guarantees bids to the 2026 NWSL Challenge Cup and 2026-27 Concacaf W Champions Cup. 

“We work for things like this, moments like this all season,” head coach Vlatko Andonovski said after the match. “It’s a justification of the work we’ve done this year and last year.”

Back in early May, the Reign were the first team to shut out the Current, winning 1-0 at Lumen Field. It was Kansas City’s second consecutive loss, dropping the Current to 5-2-0 at the time. They went on to outscore their next four opponents 10-3 and start an eight-game winning streak. The club’s unbeaten streak now sits at 14 matches. 

The Current had a few early chances, including an Ally Sentnor shot blocked in the second minute, one wide-right by Nichelle Prince in the seventh, and another by Robinson in the 10th. Temwa Chawinga, making her return from a knee injury, had another good look in the 13th that went wide right.

Debinha broke the drought, burying a penalty kick in the 34th minute. The penalty, a handball in the box, was assessed after confirmation from VAR. The Current carried that lead into halftime with a 13-0 advantage in shots and 66% of possession. 

The second half started much slower with a litany of breaks for players down on the pitch and the Current exhausting their substitutions by the 73rd minute. Kansas City also appeared to lose veteran defender Hailie Mace to an ankle injury, forcing her to exit in the 62nd despite entering the match at the beginning of the second half.

Chawinga scored the go-ahead goal in the 74th, collecting a carom after Bia’s shot was blocked. She headed it past goalkeeper Claudia Dickey and the CPKC Stadium crowd erupted into a spirited rendition of “Happy Birthday.”

It’s the first Shield of Andonovski’s decorated NWSL coaching career, which includes a pair of Championship titles in 2014 and 2015 with FC Kansas City. The Seattle Reign captured the Shield in those two campaigns.

The post, which was a collaboration with the U.S. women’s national team and U.S. Soccer, started, “This isn’t a surprise. But it still feels big to say. It’s time – I’m retiring from football.”

She also added a cheeky caption which read, “Now available for charity matches, Sunday brunches and pool parties… preferably all in the same day.”

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A post shared by Meghan Klingenberg (@meghankling)

Klingenberg, 36, most recently played with Portland Thorns FC, but elected to depart the club at the end of the 2024 season. She spent eight years there and won two NWSL championships as well as two NWSL Shields.

After winning two national championships at North Carolina, Klingenberg was selected by the Washington Freedom in the 2011 WPS Draft. She was traded to the Boston Breakers and later played for the Western New York Flash, as well. 

Klingenberg spent the 2012 and 2013 seasons with Tyresö FF in Sweden, then joined the Houston Dash of the upstart NWSL as a 2014 expansion draft selection. She played there until a 2015 trade sent her to Portland.

For country, Klingenberg represented the U.S. at the U-16, U-17, U-20 and U-23 levels. She retires with 75 caps earned between 2011 and 2018. She was a key fixture in the 2015 World Cup title run, playing every minute for the U.S.

Later in the day, Klingenberg sat down with former teammates Becky Sauerbrunn and Lindsey Horan to discuss her decision on the first episode of the new U.S. Soccer Podcast, which she will co-host alongside David Gass and Alejandro Bedoya.

In addition to joining the podcast, Klingenberg is also a founding partner in lifestyle brand and media company Re-inc., alongside Tobin Heath, Christen Press and Megan Rapinoe.

This 25-player group will face the Republic of Ireland on June 26 at DICK’s Sporting Goods Park in Commerce City, Colo., and June 29 at TQL Stadium in Cincinnati, Ohio. The U.S. will also play Canada on July 2 at Washington D.C.’s Audi Field.

The other headline from this list is the return of midfielder Rose Lavelle, who has not suited up for the U.S. since December. She underwent ankle surgery soon after and made her return to NWSL play on June 7 for Gotham FC. The second game will be a homecoming of sorts for Lavelle, who attended Notre Dame High School in Cincinnati.

This will be another very young roster for the USWNT, with four players on the roster receiving their first call-up: Jordyn Bugg, Lilly Reale, Izzy Rodriguez, and Sam Meza. That leaves the US with only six players who have world championship experience. Outside of those six, the average number of caps is 3.3 for the rest of the roster.

“We want to continue to improve our understanding of how we want to play and widen the player pool, and those are some of the key goals of this three-game window,” Hayes said in a statement. “On this roster, we have players with a varied amount of experience, and my priority is to deepen the exposures required for international soccer. These are three challenging matches and as always, we want to win, but also to make sure we are ready for the next steps.”

As for NWSL teams, the representation is well-balanced with Angel City FC, Gotham FC, Kansas City Current, and Seattle Reign FC each sending three players. Five more clubs have two on the roster and Racing Louisville has one.

GOALKEEPERS (3): Angelina Anderson (Angel City FC), Claudia Dickey (Seattle Reign FC) Mandy McGlynn (Utah Royals)

DEFENDERS (10): Kerry Abello (Orlando Pride), Jordyn Bugg (Seattle Reign FC), Naomi Girma (Chelsea FC, ENG), Lilly Reale (Gotham FC), Tara McKeown (Washington Spirit), Avery Patterson (Houston Dash), Izzy Rodriguez (Kansas City Current), Emily Sams (Orlando Pride), Emily Sonnett (Gotham FC), Gisele Thompson (Angel City FC)

MIDFIELDERS (6): Croix Bethune (Washington Spirit), Sam Coffey (Portland Thorns FC), Claire Hutton (Kansas City Current), Rose Lavelle (Gotham FC), Sam Meza (Seattle Reign FC), Olivia Moultrie (Portland Thorns FC)

FORWARDS (6): Lynn Biyendolo (Seattle Reign FC), Michelle Cooper (Kansas City Current), Yazmeen Ryan (Houston Dash), Emma Sears (Racing Louisville), Ally Sentnor (Utah Royals), Alyssa Thompson (Angel City FC)

Now, through five games, it appears the whole squad has picked up right where it left off last November when the Current advanced to the league semifinals. The biggest difference?

“It’s just more mature,” coach Vlatko Andonovski said after his team’s 2-0 victory against Houston on Saturday. “We still have a very similar system and the structure is very similar but there are little things that we do better.”

One specific thing that has helped the Current take over the top of the table is their ability to limit scoring. At this point last season, the Current had conceded 10 goals including four in a nine-goal barnburner against Portland to open the season. They also had a 1-1 draw against Gotham. 

This time around, Kansas City is undefeated and has allowed just one, giving goalkeeper Lorena four shutouts to start the season. It also helps that she’s only faced 15 shots on target. That mark is second-lowest in the league, though Orlando has allowed one more goal.

“She certainly gives comfort and confidence to the backline,” Andonovski said. “Our whole line plays more composed, they defend with confidence, it’s just a different feeling and I’m glad that we have that. It shows every game.”

So far, Lorena appears to be another rousing success story for Andonvski’s international recruiting portfolio, playing in her first NWSL season. The Ituverava, Brazil, native made her professional debut in 2017 and helped lead her home country to a silver medal in 2024 Olympic Tournament.

With her in goal, the Current set a club record last week with 401 consecutive shutout minutes. Her five straight wins to start the season is the second-longest streak of its kind. As a team, the Current have won nine regular season matches in a row and boast an NWSL-best +6.9 expected goal differential.

“I think it’s really engrained in this team that everyone has to defend and also what we really try to hit on is defend with attack in mind,” Kayla Sharples said after the match. “Being put in those specific positions also allows us to score on the other end, to be lethal and attack in transition. I think it’s all just coming together.”

Another valuable element to this team is the lack of offseason movement. Outside of Lorena, who signed a three-year deal in December, the club did not add any other consistent contributors after the Olympic break, which proved to be an important turning point for the team last year.

Adding Sharples and Alana Cook, as well as goalkeeper Almuth Schult, who departed in the offseason, the Current went on a run, ending a three-match losing streak and allowing just one goal in the next six matches. Now, they are finally seeing the benefits of a full season together. Beatriz and Nichelle Price are healthy too, which certainly doesn’t hurt.

“We had all of last year to put everything into place for us,” veteran midfielder and Current captain Lo’eau LaBonta said. “Now, there is no new learning this year. You know what you are supposed to do and if you don’t do it, the next person will do it for you. I think everybody knows their roles and everything has fallen into place.”

The Olympic gold medal winner was quick to shoulder the blame for the Washington Spirit’s 1-0 loss in the National Women’s Soccer League Championship.

“I’m not hiding the fact that my back is not feeling great but I decided to stay in the game,” Rodman said in a post-match media scrum. “I could have pulled myself out so that’s not an excuse. I wasn’t the Trin that I wanted to be today so that’s a bummer.”

Rodman not only represented the U.S. women’s national team at the 2024 Olympics, but played in back-to-back 120-minute matches in the quarterfinals and semifinals, then a full 90 in the gold medal match. She returned home after a brief break and went back into the NWSL season where her Spirit had moved into second place in the table.

Although Rodman pointed to the Olympics, she has had recurring issues with her back since her rookie season in 2021. More recently, she notably experienced back spasms and left the team’s match against Kansas City on the same CPKC Stadium pitch back in September. She returned to the team Oct. 13.

Despite playing through pain, Rodman did stay in for the full 90 minutes and recorded five shots. Teammate Casey Krueger revealed that Rodman had addressed her lingering discomfort at halftime, but elected to finish the championship match in pursuit of the team’s second NWSL title.

“At halftime, she came in and she was hurting pretty bad, but we made it this far and she wanted to give the little bit left that she had.”

Spirit head coach Jonatan Giráldez echoed his confidence in the team during his press conference saying the roster he had on the pitch against Orlando gave them the best chance to win.

The Spirit only utilized two subs in the match, Gabrielle Carle in the 61st for Paige Metayer and Lena Silano in the 73rd for Makenna Morris. The Pride used four, by comparison.

“The ones who know me know I’m terrified,” Current head coach Vlatko Andonovski said after that first match. “I can’t even think that we got scored on four goals.”

It was a recurring point of emphasis even though the Current remained unbeaten for the next 14 matches, namely because seven of them ended in a draw or were decided by one goal. By the Olympic break, Kansas City had a league-best 40 goals, but had surrendered 22 which was more than any other team in the top six and 10 more than Orlando who handed the Current their first loss, 2-1.

They needed change, so they used the summer transfer window to overhaul the entire spine of the defense. On Saturday, Kansas City opens its playoff campaign hosting the North Carolina Courage in a quarterfinal, and the Current hope their improved back line can complement a record-setting attack (57 goals) to win a championship.

First, they signed veteran defender Alana Cook through a trade with the Seattle Reign. They also picked up goalkeeper Almuth Schult, who led Germany to its first gold medal in 2016, and received defender Kayla Sharples in a trade with Bay FC.

Cook made a quick impact, starting the first match out of the break and recorded a team-high five clearances with two interceptions. Schult started in place of Adrianna Franch in goal the next match and saved three of the five shots on goal. 

Sharples started in the third match and the Current earned their first points out of the break with a 1-0 victory against the Utah Royals. Utah entered with 1.2 expected goals according to FBRef but Schult saved all six shots on goal.

“This group is so strong,” Andonovski said after the game. “We made these changes in a really tough part of the season where we had a really tough stretch. Hard, tough games, hard opponents and that makes it even harder… I think it brought them a little big closer together, actually expedited the process of bringing these new players together.”

That kicked off a streak of just one goal allowed in six matches and ended their home slate similar to the way they started with a 4-1 victory against the San Diego Wave. They beat Chicago 3-1 on the road to end their regular season.

“I am very happy that we were able to do that because I think that we saw right off the bat that there was a difference in the way we defended,” Andonovski said. “Obviously we won the game 4-1 and we won a couple games maybe 3-0 but we were able to go in a game 0-0 and win a 1-0 game. Even though as a coach those are stressful and you don’t probably want to be in that situation. For us and our development and our growth as a team those moments were important. Those games were very important and they had a lot to do with that.”

Cook had some previous experience playing for Andonovski on the U.S. women’s national team. She lauded his approach and the relentless attitude he’s brought to the Current. 

“One of the reasons I came here was to learn from Vlatko and his kind of defensive mind,” Cook said. “The way he’s instilled good habits, the way he’s taught us different things with stepping in front of a player, different techniques for doing those things, I think you’re seeing it all coming together and the stat sheet is showing that. We’ve gotten a lot more difficult to beat as the season has gone on and I think that something that we really pride ourselves on.”

Although one can point to the arrival of Cook, Schult and Sharples as a turning point for the team, they joined a solid foundation which now boasts the league’s lowest expected goals against an highest goal differential. And it doesn’t hurt that they’ve had defenders score six of their league-best 57 goals either.

With Sharples and Cook cemented at centerback, Andonovski has tested a few different combinations around them, shifting between a 4-3-3 and 4-2-3-1 with players like Hallie Mace, Izzy Rodriguez and Ellie Wheeler

Now, the Current turn their sights to the NWSL Playoffs where they are a four-seed with home-field advantage hosting the North Carolina Courage. The teams split their regular season series with North Carolina winning the second match 2-1 in September. That was the last loss by the Current who ended the season with six wins and two draws. 

“Everyone is willing to put their body on the line right now and we want to win that championship so whatever we can do to keep the ball out of the net is the biggest thing,” defender Rodriguez said. 

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“For me, I’m just proud that I’ve been able to call Portland my home throughout the entire journey and see the growth of the league, see the growth of this club, and then worldwide see the growth of women’s soccer,” Sinclair said in a video released by the team.

The Thorns are currently in seventh place and in contention for a spot in the postseason with five regular season matches remaining. The final home match in that slate is scheduled for 7 p.m. PT on Nov. 1 against Angel City FC. The Thorns are planning to celebrate Sinclair’s accomplishments during that match although they have already updated their profile pictures on social media to “Thank you Sinc.”

During her career, the Thorns have finished in the top three nine times and won the NWSL Shield in 2021. She has played 195 matches with 64 goals and 17 assists. Ten of those goals were scored off of penalty kicks where she was nearly perfect going 10-for-13. She is one of just three players in NWSL history to play all 12 years with the same club.

Prior to playing in the NWSL, Sinclair won a USL W-League Championship with Vancouver Whitecaps and was a two-time champion in Women’s Professional Soccer (WPS) playing with FC Gold Pride and the Western New York Flash. She was also a champion in the college ranks, winning two NCAA Division I titles with the University of Portland.

The 41-year-old, who won a gold medal at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics with the Canada women’s national team retired from international duty at the end of 2023 after 23 years and 331 caps. She is the world record holder for men or women with 190 international goals. Sinclair played in six FIFA Women’s World Cups and four Summer Olympic Games. In addition to winning gold in 2021, she retired with two bronze medals.

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This was the U.S. U-20 Women’s Youth National Team’s first semifinal appearance since 2016, when the squad also lost to Korea DPR. It was the seventh U.S. trip to the semifinals. This time around, North Korea has been dominant, outsourcing opponents 24-4 in six matches. 

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The U.S. reached the semifinal after two dramatic overtime victories including a penalty kick shootout in the knockout stage. Trailing 2-0 against Germany in the quarterfinals, the USWYNT scored twice in stoppage time to force overtime, then won 3-1 in PKs. Jordynn Dudley scored in the 98th and captain Ally Sentnor found the back of the net a minute later. She, Riley Jackson and Leah Klenke converted penalty kicks while goalkeeper Teagan Wy secured the victory by blocking Germany’s fourth attempt.

The United States defeated Spain 1-0, topped Morroco 2-0, routed Paraguay 7-0 with a hat trick from Princeton forward Pierta Tordin, and bested Mexico 3-2 on their way to the quarterfinals. Tordin is leading the U.S. with four goals and Sentnor has three.

This will be the fourth appearance in the third-place match for the U.S., which has one bronze medal from 2004.

The USWYNT set a record this season with eight professional soccer players on the roster. All of them, led by Sentor, are in their rookie seasons with the National Women’s Soccer League. Other players include Kansas City’s Claire Hutton, Angel City’s Gisele Thompson and Savy King, Orlando’s Ally Lemos, North Carolina’s Riley Jackson and Seattle’s Emeri Adames and Jordan Bugg.

And, as Dan Lauletta wrote then, the match lived up to the hype. 

“There was a ton of intensity in the game, and I think you’re going to get that with two really competitive teams. And no one wanted to leave anything on the field,” Kansas City defender Izzy Rodriguez said after that match. 

Despite being down a player for the entire second half after defender Carrie Lawrence was shown a red card, Orlando emerged victorious with goals from Barbra Banda and Marta. The latter was the game-winner, on a penalty kick in the 63rd minute. 

Now, with a spot in the NWSL playoffs already secured, the Pride will put their record-setting streak of 20 consecutive regular-season games without a loss on the line against the league’s most prolific offense. 

Here are three storylines to watch in the highly anticipated rematch between the Pride and the Current on Friday at 8 p.m. ET on Prime Video:

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1. The mystery of momentum

There is a lot of talk in sports about “momentum,” and Orlando definitely seems to have the advantage there. Picking up right where it left off at the break, it has shut out all three opponents in regular-season play to string together a six-game winning streak. 

Kansas City has not been so lucky despite reaching the finals of the inaugural Summer Cup and winning The Women’s Cup during the break. The Current returned to NWSL play with a surprising 4-1 loss on the road to the Washington Spirit and a 2-1 loss to the North Carolina Courage. However, they bounced back on Saturday with a 1-0 victory over the Utah Royals at home. 

“It’s probably the first game we’re going into with a mindset that we have nothing to lose,” Kansas City coach Vlatko Andonovski said about the Orlando matchup in a press conference on Thursday. “We are playing arguably one of the best teams the league has ever had, no question the best team in the league, so we go into it pretty relaxed, to be honest. We want to get a result and we want to be successful in this game, but we go into the game with almost no pressure at all.”

Does Orlando get a boost from its continued success? Or will Kansas City come in even more motivated to close the nine-point gap between them?

2. The Golden Boot leaders

The other big number going into the July match was the goal tally between forwards Banda and Temwa Chawinga. They were tied for the league lead, and both scored in that match. But Chawinga has since jumped ahead with 15 to Banda’s 12. 

“She’s a great player and her stats back it up as well,” Orlando coach Seb Hines said about Chawinga during a press conference this week. “There’s not another player like her in the league, so we have to be concentrated at all time. We have to be proactive.” 

Keep an eye on these two for highlight-reel runs and big breakaways. At 0.78 and 0.86 expected goals per 90 minutes, Chawinga and Banda have broken out as two of the most exciting players to watch, even though both are in their first NWSL season. 

3. The emotions (and the cards)

In addition to Lawrence’s two yellow cards, there were seven more called in the July match and a total of 29 fouls. That included a collision between Kansas City keeper AD Franch and Orlando’s Adriana that led to the PK. 

It was a hard-fought game, and it was quick, too, with 37 shots and 12 on goal between the two sides. 

Although neither coach leaned into the “rematch” angle, you can expect this to be another physical, if not chippy, match as Orlando and Kansas City close in on the end of the regular season.