Kansas City Current squander late lead, lose to Washington Spirit in NWSL home match

A two-goal advantage is widely regarded as the most dangerous lead in soccer.

But the Kansas City Current couldn’t hold one against the first-place Washington Spirit during Sunday evening’s National Women’s Soccer League match at Children’s Mercy Park.

Up 2-0 after 23 minutes, the Current (3-9-0) slowly coughed up the lead, eventually losing 3-2 to come away with nothing.

They should’ve had more from this match. But two goals from the Spirit (6-1-5) in the final 10 minutes doomed the Current. And KC’s interim head coach, Caroline Sjöblom, was frustrated after seeing such a dominant performance at the beginning go to waste in the end.

“I think we outplayed them,” Sjöblom said. “The players followed the game plan fantastically, and then in the second half, we continued to play really well.”

The Current did start at a torrid pace. KC’s Michelle Cooper was first on the scoreboard, recording her first regular-season goal just 22 seconds in. The goal was the fastest in NWSL history, beating Rocky Rodriguez’s record of 24.76 seconds in 2017.

The Current doubled their lead after the VAR sent referee Natalie Simon to the monitor. It was difficult to tell in real-time, but replays showed Spirit defender Ashley Hatch’s arm outstretched, deflecting Morgan Gautrat’s header away from its intended target.

Simon pointed to the spot, and Debinha dispatched the Current’s penalty kick into the back of the net with ease. It was her 40th career NWSL goal.

The Spirit got one back late in the first half thanks to Ashley Sanchez. Then, 10 minutes from full-time, Washington equalized on a header from Paige Metayar. Tara McKeown scored the Spirit’s go-ahead goal in the 87th minute.

“We allowed them to come in a little bit more on our side of the half because we had tired legs on the pitch,” Sjöblom said, noting that Sunday’s match was the team’s third in a week. “But I still think we should have won the game.”

It truly was a 10 minute stretch to forget. The Spirit have been one of the most consistently dangerous teams in the league this year, and the Current had them pretty well handled.

But small moments let matters get out of hand.

“At the end of the day it comes down to the little moments, and we slipped up in those moments,” KC’s Cooper said. “We know we must go into the next game better.”

There are 10 regular-season matches left for the Current, and just three will be at home. They’re still stuck in last place in the league, nine points out of the final playoff spot.

Asked if alarm bells are starting to ring, Sjöblom said, “I think that sooner or later, if we are not starting to win games, that alarm will come. This club is a club that wants to be up in the high positions (in the standings). We want to play in championships.”

For their part, the players are taking it one game at a time — not looking too far ahead just yet.

“You can’t let those thoughts creep in or else you’ll just be looking too far ahead,” said KC’s Kate Del Fava. “I think we’re just focused on next weekend and trying to get three points on the road.”

The Current return to action next weekend with a 6 p.m. Saturday kickoff in Orlando.