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Jeff Kassouf
Nov 9, 2024, 03:53 PM ET
NWSL Golden Boot winner Temwa Chawinga scored the Kansas City Current‘s lone purpose in a 1-0 quarterfinal victory over the North Carolina Courage on Saturday at CPKC Stadium.
Chawinga additionally hit the bottom and stayed there a number of instances within the match, one thing that drew criticism from Present head coach Vlatko Andonovski after the victory.
“It wasn’t simply this recreation. In the event you take a look at the season, each recreation they’re overly bodily towards her,” Andonovski stated. “It is not truthful for Temwa. They’re focusing on her. They are going straight at her. And I simply hope that as we go ahead, she will get extra safety from the referees.”
Chawinga was on her again deep into second-half stoppage time after a sort out by Braveness reserve Bianca St-Georges, who then stood over Chawinga along with her fingers within the air and appeared to yell one thing on the Present ahead.
Kansas Metropolis defender Ellie Wheeler rushed over and shoved St-Georges within the again, leading to yellow playing cards for Wheeler and St-Georges.
“I feel [Chawinga] has plenty of consideration on her,” Present midfielder Vanessa DiBernardo stated. “And simply, I feel once we see that occur time and again, and her not get the calls that she needs to be getting, it will get irritating, and also you wish to shield her and get up for her.
“She does a lot for us, offensively and defensively, and we actually wish to stick collectively and present up for our teammates, particularly in moments like that.”
The Braveness have been whistled for only one foul on Chawinga throughout the recreation, per the NWSL’s official statistics.
Kansas Metropolis’s win units up a a lot anticipated semifinal assembly subsequent week with the Orlando Pride, the NWSL Protect winners and No. 1 seed.
Chawinga opened the scoring within the eighth minute on Saturday, ending a counterattack on the fourth shot of a chaotic sequence. Her preliminary shot was saved by Braveness goalkeeper Casey Murphy earlier than Kansas Metropolis ahead Debinha put the rebound off the put up. The ball bounced off the put up and again to Chawinga, whose subsequent shot was blocked by North Carolina defender Kaleigh Kurtz. However the ball got here again to Chawinga once more for an empty-net tap-in.
“That was their one actually vibrant second,” Braveness head coach Sean Nahas stated. “We simply gave the ball away cheaply within the first 10 minutes for no matter purpose, however I felt as soon as the sport settled in, and we dictated it later within the first half, we simply could not muster last probabilities. We had the one which was known as again — in all probability the precise name — however we have been by no means ready actually to get behind and that is simply been the story of our season.”
Nahas stated his workforce, particularly Kurtz, “did a incredible job with Chawinga at the moment.”
Chawinga entered the match listed as questionable attributable to a knee harm that precipitated her to overlook final week’s regular-season finale. She scored 20 objectives within the common season, breaking the single-season NWSL document (beforehand 18, held by Sam Kerr).
After conceding the purpose, the Braveness dominated on the ball, ending the sport with 65% possession. North Carolina ahead Kerolin, final 12 months’s league MVP, began and performed 75 minutes within the loss after lacking final week’s recreation with muscle tightness.
However Kerolin’s return wasn’t sufficient to unravel the Braveness’s season-long scoring troubles. She got here off the sphere within the seventy fifth minute, 10 minutes after main scorer Ashley Sanchez was faraway from the match.
“We needed to make a couple of adjustments simply to throw numbers increased up the sphere, and clearly it did not work out,” Nahas stated. “However you must go for it, whether or not you lose 1-0 or 5-0, at that stage, it would not matter. However we weren’t actually offering something dynamic within the last third.”
The Present completed the common season 16 factors away from North Carolina regardless of being separated by one place within the standings.
Kansas Metropolis now travels to face an Orlando workforce that began the season unbeaten by 23 video games and trounced the Chicago Red Stars 4-1 in Friday’s quarterfinal.
The Delight defeated the Present in Kansas Metropolis in June in a battle of unbeatens earlier than the groups performed to a scoreless attract Orlando in September.
“Orlando confirmed on this season that they are the perfect workforce, no query,” Andonovski stated. “All we will do is congratulate them for an important season. However for us, we all know that it may be a tough process. We’re gonna take pleasure in at the moment and tomorrow we’re gonna begin getting ready for Orlando.”
