Moving from Barcelona to the volatile NWSL, Jonatan Giráldez said he was interested in having to “suffer to win.” He got his wish in Kansas City last night, when the Current handed Washington Spirit their biggest loss of the season.

It was a near reversal of the August match-up between these teams, which Washington won handily. This match, with less time to prepare, injuries piling up, and facing a revitalized Kansas City, the Spirit lost 3-0, their first multiple goal loss of the year.

“We tried everything, but today was not the day,” Giráldez said. “We had a poor performance, in general.”

Kansas City came out playing in a very wide shape, which Washington struggled to cover, especially early on. In the 4th minute, Michelle Cooper received the ball on the right flank with plenty of room, dribbled in, and crossed. It was slightly deflected by Nichelle Prince to push it into the goal and put the Current ahead.

In the 31st minute, the Current struck again, in the form of Lo’eau LaBonta. She received the ball outside of the box and made a slanting run in with almost no pressure from the Spirit. Aubrey Kingsbury dove for her shot to the far post but was unable to make the save.

The Spirit had some chances throughout the first half and ended up outshooting the Current, but many were off target or placed to make them easy to defend. Some of the best were a corner kick that Tara McKeown brought down just in front of the goal in the 36th minute and a shot by Trinity Rodman in the 42nd after a well-placed long pass from Ashley Hatch. Both were saved by Current goalkeeper Almuth Schult.

Washington’s attacking struggles continued in the second half, despite some tactical changes. In the 69th minute, likely Golden Boot winner Temwa Chawinga finally got her goal. Debinha drove the ball nearly to the touchline, then passed back to Chawinga for her 16th goal of the season.

Late in the second half, Rodman went down on the sidelines, after competing briefly with Chawinga for the ball. Crying and holding her back, Rodman was subbed out and eventually taken to the locker rooms in a wheelchair, though she did return to the bench shortly thereafter. Giráldez was not able to give an update immediately after the match, but Rodman has experienced back spasms sporadically throughout her career, though it’s been a little while since she’s needed on field treatment for them.

Despite the loss of Rodman, Washington kept the Current largely bottled up for the rest of the game, albeit without looking very dangerous themselves. The game got increasingly scrappy, though, with Chawinga looked at for a red card after stepping on McKeown’s foot and Lena Silano receiving one for a studs-up slide into KC’s keeper.

“I think they were ready for us. And I just don’t think we were ready to respond to that,” Gabby Carle said after the match. “I think this whole year we’ve been extremely competitive, and I think tonight we fell flat.”

Three takeaways 

• Corner conversions. Washington took nine corner kicks and converted none of them. All but one were played short, and a few led to immediate chances for the Current. If the Spirit don’t have a set piece coach on staff, they need to hire one ASAP.
• Injuries catching up to Spirit. It’s been a long season, especially for players who went to the Olympics, and the wear-and-tear is catching up to Washington at a bad time. Not only are they obviously missing Croix Bethune, but the lack of players like Ouleye Sarr and Kate Wiesner means this team is not as deep as it needs to be to turn around a game like this. Losing Rodman for a game (or more) as well would put the Spirit in deep trouble.
• Moving on. It was a big loss for Washington, and they were understandably disappointed post-match, but players and coach all clearly understood the importance of moving on mentally. They’ll have to do it quickly and on the road; they travel to Angel City next week for the next match.

Box Score

NWSL Regular Season –  Game 21

Kansas City Current 3 (Prince 4′, LaBonta 31′, Chawinga 69′)

Washington Spirit 0

Lineups

Kansas City Current (4231): Almuth Schult; Ellie Wheeler, Kayla Sharples, Alana Cook, Hailie Mace (Hildah Magaia 86′); Lo’eau LaBonta, Vanessa DiBernardo (Desiree Scott 86′), Debinha (Mwanalima Jereko 90+2′); Temwa Chawinga, Nichelle Prince (Zaneratto 59′), Michelle Cooper (Elizabeth Ball 59′)

Washington Spirit (4231): Aubrey Kingsbury (C); Casey Krueger (Gabby Carle 46′), Annaïg Butel (Esme Morgan 66′), Tara McKeown, Paige Metayer; Leicy Santos, Andi Sullivan, Hal Hershfelt; Trinity Rodman (Courtney Brown 79′), Rosemunde Kouassi (Lena Silano 66′), Ashley Hatch (Makenna Morris 46′)

Misconduct Summary

Kansas City Current:  Cooper 17′

Washington Spirit:  Silano 90+8′ red