NWSL Golden Boot winner Temwa Chawinga scored the lone goal of the Kansas City Current in their 1-0 quarterfinal win over the North Carolina Courage on Saturday at CPKC Stadium.
Chawinga also hit the ground and remained on the ground several times in the match, something that drew criticism from Saiki head coach Vlatko Andonovski after the victory.
“It’s not just this game. If you look at the season, every game they were too physical against him,” Andonovski said. “It’s not fair to Temwa. He targeted him. He went right at him. And I just hope that as we go forward, he gets more protection from the referee.”
Chawinga was in his return to the stoppage time of the second half after being tackled by Courage reserve Bianca St-Georges, who then stood over Chawinga with his hands in the air and appeared to shout something at the current forward.
Kansas City defender Ellie Wheeler rushed and shoved St-Georges in the back, resulting in yellow cards for Wheeler and St-Georges.
“I think (Chawinga) has a lot of attention on him,” current midfielder Vanessa DiBernardo said. “And it’s just, I think when we see that happen over and over again, and they don’t get the calls they should, it’s frustrating, and you want to protect them and stand up for them.
“He did a lot for us, offensively and defensively, and we really want to stick together and perform for our teammates, especially in times like this.”
The Courage were whistled only one foul on Chawinga during the game, according to official NWSL statistics.
Kansas City’s win sets up a highly anticipated semifinal meeting next week with the Orlando Pride, the NWSL Shield winners and No. 1 seed.
Chawinga opened the scoring in the eighth minute on Saturday, completing the counterattack with the fourth shot of a chaotic sequence. His initial shot was saved by Courage goalkeeper Casey Murphy before Kansas City forward Debinha put the rebound off the post. The ball bounced off the post and back to Chawinga, whose subsequent shot was blocked by North Carolina defender Kaleigh Kurtz. But the ball came back to Chawinga again for an empty tap-in.
“It was a bright moment,” Courage head coach Sean Nahas said. “We just gave the ball away cheaply in the first 10 minutes for whatever reason, but I felt like the game was over, and we were dictated to later in the first half, we couldn’t muster the last chances. it was called again — maybe the right call — but we were never able to bounce back and it just became the story of our season.
Nahas said the team, especially Kurtz, “is doing a really good job with Chawinga right now.”
Chawinga entered the game questionable due to a knee injury that caused him to miss last week’s regular season finale. She scored 20 goals in the regular season, breaking the NWSL single season record (previously 18, held by Sam Kerr).
After conceding a goal, the Courage controlled the ball, finishing the game with 65% possession. North Carolina forward Kerolin, last year’s league MVP, started and played 75 minutes in the loss after missing last week’s game with muscle tightness.
But Carolin’s return wasn’t enough to solve the Courage’s scoring problems throughout the season. He came off the field in the 75th minute, 10 minutes after leading scorer Ashley Sanchez was taken off the pitch.
“We had to make some changes just to throw a higher number on the field, and obviously it didn’t work out,” Nahas said. “But you have to work hard, whether you lose 1-0 or 5-0, at that stage, it doesn’t matter.
The Current finished the regular season 16 points behind North Carolina despite being separated by one spot in the standings.
Kansas City now travels to face an Orlando team that started the season unbeaten through 23 games and defeated the Chicago Red Stars 4-1 in the quarterfinals on Saturday.
The Pride defeated the Current in Kansas City in June in a battle of unbeatens before the teams played to a scoreless draw in Orlando in September.
“Orlando showed this season that they are the best team, no question,” Andonovski said. “All we can do is say hello for a good season. But for us, we know it will be a difficult task. We will enjoy today and tomorrow we will start preparing for Orlando.”
