Game Preview: Wave at Current

After cruising the bay last week, the Kansas City Current are ready to surf the wave on Saturday when they host San Diego in the sixth edition of the water derby. Interestingly, since SD joined the league in 2022, the Current have won each of three games in Southern California 2-1, but have yet to beat the San Diego Wave in KC: a 2-2 draw in 2022 and a 0: 2 loss in 2023. That needs to change as Kansas City pushes for a top-two finish and the home-field advantage that comes with it.

Despite being a year younger than Current, San Diego has already earned more hardware than its Midwestern counterparts. They captured the NWSL Shield a year ago (best regular season record) and won this year's version of the Challenge Cup (a single game against Gotham). They are a team accustomed to success, having reached the playoff semifinals in their first season before losing to the eventual champion Portland Thorns (who beat KC in the title game that year).

But this season? Not nearly the same level of success. While the Wave still has some top players in Kailen Sheridan, Naomi Germa, Jaedyn Shaw and María Sánchez, they are all but eliminated from postseason contention. With just five wins and 12 losses this season, they sit 12th in the 14-team table. Their attack has been particularly poor this year, scoring just 20 goals in 24 games – a lot thirty Fewer goals than Kansas City scored. And despite being led by Girma, considered one of the best defenders in the world, they conceded 30 goals for a goal difference of -10. They even lost to Club América on Wednesday of this week, eliminating them from the Concacaf W Champions Cup competition.

In addition to their on-field struggles, the Wave had to deal with numerous off-field distractions, including the midseason coaching change to Landon Donovan (interim) and a discrimination lawsuit filed by five former employees. The team is probably just eager to end a pretty disastrous 2024 — similar to Kansas City a year ago.

Back in March, San Diego hosted the Current for their first game of the season, and Izzy and Lo spoiled the party, sending the more than 32,000 fans home disappointed with a 2-1 KC win.

While the Wave were busy securing the Shield last year, Kansas City was busy slipping to second-to-last place. What a difference a season makes, as the Current entered 2024 with a 15-game unbeaten streak and have a legitimate chance of finishing in the top two in the standings. There have been many storylines for KC this year: an influx of rookies and international talent, a midseason shakeup in defense, the opening of its own stadium, the signing of former USWNT coach Vlatko Andonovski, setting a record for most different goalscorers in a season, etc. But arguably the biggest storyline was the star-making season for Temwa Chawinga.

A silly way to measure Chawinga's success is the Parkside Pronto trading card series. Each week of the season, Parkside celebrates around five significant moments in the NWSL with its Pronto cards, and Chawinga has been featured twice as many times as any other individual player this season, including cards that recognize her as the first Malawian goalscorer, the River Ball, and of course their record-breaking record from last weekend.

https://twitter.com/ParksideCards/status/1844075766968947038

With 19 goals scored this season, Chawinga now stands alone in league history. Equally notable is the fact that she has scored in 16 different games, including 12 of the last 13 games of the regular season. Basically, the Current are lucky to count on one Chawinga goal per game – an incredible luxury in a sport where a 1-0 result is not uncommon (as happened last week). Additionally, if Temwa manages to score against San Diego this Saturday, she could boast having scored against literally every other NWSL team (except KC) in a single season. This is an unprecedented achievement.

Relive the historic game when Temwa broke the single season scoring record 🎥@NWSL | #KCBABY pic.twitter.com/JnI5sAjmUb

– KC Current – ​​x (@thekccurrent) October 15, 2024

(In unrelated news this week, the NWSL's newest team, the curiously named BOS Nation FC, was unveiled. They will begin play in 2026 and it is very likely that one of the first clean sheets will be for Temwa Chawinga.)

On paper, this weekend's matchup appears to be one of the easier ones for Kansas City. They are unbeaten in six consecutive games and have only conceded a single goal in that period. Meanwhile, the Wave have only won twice in league games since the beginning of May. San Diego also has one midweek game under its belt (a loss), so KC has the rest and the travel advantage.

The Current only lost once at home all year and averaged about three goals per game in CPKC's friendly. But…there's a reason sports aren't just played on paper. In the home finale of the regular season, the Current team will have to give it their all and play hard for 90 minutes to get the win and the three points that come with it. Later this weekend, Gotham and Washington will have a tough matchup that, if things go KC's way, could see the Current entering the final weekend of the season alone in second place.

A quick note on personnel: This will also be the last home game of the regular season in which Desiree Scott, an FCKC original and long-time Canadian national player, could be there. She took to social media this week to announce her retirement after the 2024 season.

“Forever grateful for this unforgettable trip. Thank you.” ❤️

A message from the destroyer, @MsDScott11 🗣#KCBABY pic.twitter.com/4NyQnvlP7u

– KC Current – ​​x (@thekccurrent) October 17, 2024

WHEN: Saturday, October 19th at 12:00 p.m0 a.m. (central time)

WHERE: CPKC Stadium, Kansas City, MO

HOW TO WATCH: CBS / Paramount+

Record:

KC Current: 14-7-3 (49 points, 4th place in NWSL league standings)

San Diego Wave: 5-7-12 (22 points, 12th in NWSL league standings)

Last game:

KC Current: 1-0 away win against Bay FC

San Diego Wave: 0-1 home loss to Club América, 0-2 home loss to Houston Dash