Month: May 2022

Current visits Seattle tonight

Kansas City squares off against OL Reign at Lumen Field in Seattle, Washington, at 9 p.m. Wednesday, May 25.

It will be the conclusion of KC Current’s three-game road trip. KMCI, 38 The Spot will broadcast Wednesday’s match locally, with Paramount+ streaming nationally.

Kansas City is in search of its first win of the 2022 NWSL regular season after a hard-fought 1-0 road loss to Angel City FC on Saturday night.

A shorthanded Current squad nearly took the lead in the ninth minute through a free kick from midfielder Alex Loera, but Angel City goalkeeper Didi Haracic made an acrobatic save, denying the rookie.

The Current withstood Angel City’s pressure for most of the match with the help of goalkeeper A.D. Franch making multiple saves, but an own goal gave the hosts a 1-0 victory.

OL Reign, meanwhile, drew with the Washington Spirit 0-0 on Sunday afternoon. The Reign had 20 shots to Washington’s seven but were unable to breach the Spirit’s back line. The result marked OL Reign’s third draw in four regular season matches.

Similar squads

Kansas City and OL Reign are similarly aligned ahead of Wednesday’s match.

Both teams enjoyed success in the 2022 NWSL Challenge Cup. OL Reign won the West Division with a tournament-best 14 points through the group stage. In the semifinals, OL Reign matched up with the Washington Spirit, and the teams played to a 0-0 draw after 90 minutes. The Spirit advanced to the finals after winning a penalty kick shootout 9-8.

The Current won the Central Division in the Challenge Cup with 13 points, and advanced to the semifinals of the competition. Kansas City also played a tight semifinal but fell 2-1 to the eventual champion, the North Carolina Courage.

Neither squad has picked up a win in the 2022 NWSL regular season. Wednesday’s match presents an opportunity for Kansas City to regain its Challenge Cup form with a massive three points.

Best in net

Wednesday’s match features two of the best goalkeepers in the NWSL – Kansas City’s Franch and OL Reign’s Phallon Tullis-Joyce.

Tullis-Joyce, a first-year starter, had an impressive Challenge Cup campaign in which she recorded 24 saves and two clean sheets in seven matches played. She has continued that form in the regular season, leading the NWSL with 21 saves and recording two shutouts. While Tullis-Joyce is a new face to the league, she boasts plenty of experience from her collegiate days at Miami (Florida) and her time spent at Stade de Reims in France.

Franch has cemented herself as one of the league’s best goalkeepers through her lengthy professional career. The Salina, Kansas, native reached 10,000 minutes played in the NWSL on May 8 and enters Wednesday’s match with 18 saves, good for third best in the NWSL.

Players to watch

Kansas City Current midfielder Victoria Pickett — Pickett, a second-year player and integral piece of Kansas City’s midfield, played the full 90 minutes for the first time in the regular season on Saturday night against Angel City. Pickett has appeared in all four of Kansas City’s matches and has completed 80% of her passes while recording five key passes. She’s no stranger to scoring against OL Reign, scoring a goal in the 73rd minute of a meeting between the two sides in August 2021 that gave Kansas City its first win in franchise history.

OL Reign midfielder Jessica Fishlock — Fishlock added another accolade to an impressive playing career in 2021, as she won the 2021 NWSL Most Valuable Player award for the first time in her career. She had an impressive campaign, with 1,180 minutes played, five goals and four assists in the 2021 regular season. She competed defensively too, as she won 63% of her tackles and provided 13 clearances. This season, Fishlock played in seven Challenge Cup matches and recorded an assist, four key passes and eight interceptions. She has yet to record a goal or assist in the 2022 NWSL regular season.

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Houston visits Sporting KC tonight in U.S. Open Cup match

Sporting Kansas City will resume play in the 2022 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday against Houston Dynamo FC at Children’s Mercy Park in Kansas City, Kansas, in the Round of 16.

Tickets are available online at SeatGeek.com and are included in Sporting Kansas City season ticket member packages.

Wednesday’s match will stream live on ESPN+ for subscribers across the U.S. with local radio broadcasts available on Sports Radio 810 WHB (English) and La Grande 1340 AM (Spanish).

Open to all professional and amateur teams affiliated with U.S. Soccer, the 2022 U.S. Open Cup features the largest field in the competition’s modern era (1995-present) with 103 clubs from all levels of the sport. Sporting KC is one of 13 MLS clubs remaining in the competition along with two USL Championship teams and Union Omaha from USL League One.

Sporting’s showdown with Houston is one of five all-MLS matches in the Round of 16 and the only fixture of the round to feature former U.S. Open Cup champions going head to head.

Sporting KC owns four U.S. Open Cup titles in team history – tied for the most among MLS teams – as champions in 2004, 2012, 2015 and 2017. Houston claimed the club’s first U.S. Open Cup trophy in 2018.

While Houston and Sporting have won three of the past five U.S. Open Cup titles, the teams will now meet in the U.S. Open Cup for a fifth time in the past six editions of the tournament.

Most recently, Sporting earned a 1-0 victory over the Dynamo in the MLS regular season on March 5 in the 2022 home opener at Children’s Mercy Park with Remi Walter scoring the game’s only goal to even the all-time series at 13-13-13 through 39 meetings.

During the Sporting era of the club (2011-present), Sporting has now faced Houston 10 times in elimination matches with four meetings in the MLS Cup Playoffs (2011, 2012, 2013 and 2017) and six matches in the U.S. Open Cup (2011, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2022). In fact, Sporting has played Houston 40 times – more than any other opponent – in all competitions since 2011.

Sporting KC advanced to the Round of 16 with a thrilling 4-2 win in extra time against FC Dallas on May 10 at Children’s Mercy Park.

After falling behind 2-0 in the first half, Sporting KC rallied with four unanswered goals – the most dramatic of which came in the eighth minute of second-half stoppage time as Marinos Tzionis headed home the last-gasp equalizer.

Houston reached the Round of 16 with a pair of home wins over USL Championship sides, defeating Rio Grande Valley FC in the Third Round 2-1 before earning a 1-0 victory over San Antonio FC in the Round of 32.

The Dynamo are led by first-year head coach Paulo Nagamura, who played in Kansas City for five seasons and served as head coach of Sporting KC II for the past four years. Notably, Nagamura’s staff includes assistant coach Jimmy Nielsen, who captained SKC to the 2012 U.S. Open Cup and 2013 MLS Cup championships as a teammate with Nagamura.

Wednesday’s match will mark Houston’s first U.S. Open Cup road match since 2017, snapping a streak of 10 straight home games in the competition. Meanwhile, Sporting has prevailed in the club’s last 10 home matches in the U.S. Open Cup since 2015.

Wednesday’s winner between Sporting Kansas City and Houston Dynamo FC will secure a berth in the quarterfinals, to be played on June 21-22, and will be host to the winner of the Minnesota United FC and Union Omaha match.

The quarterfinal winner of the Central Region will then advance to play the winner of the West Region (LA/LAFC vs. San Jose-Sacramento) in the semifinals on July 26-27.

Contested since 1914 and named in honor of former Kansas City Wizards owner Lamar Hunt, this year marks the 107th edition of the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup. The competition will crown a champion in September with the tournament winner to receive $300,000 in prize money, a berth in the 2023 Concacaf Champions League and the honor of having its name engraved on the Dewar Challenge Trophy.

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