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This is a juggernaut of a matchup. Gotham were torn apart by North Carolina int he final match of the season, and had they not been they very likely wouldn’t even be here right now. But they are, and they have one of the best NWSL teams of all time to scrap with. Batties love a challenge. Here’s a breakdown of each team, players to watch, matchups each will need to win, and a prediction.

Style of Play

The 2025 Kansas City Current have been fueled by spite and the confident belief that they’re better than you — and they’re almost always right. The Current had a historic season last year, it’s just that Orlando’s was even more historic and they gobbled up all the trophies, which led to Kansas City being forgotten. They’re not here for any of that noise in 2025.

Kansas City has dominated the league with a ridiculous squad build, a diabolically efficient defensive setup, and The Inevitable Temwa Chawinga in attack. I could get real nerdy and dive into obscure statistics to highlight their defensive prowess, but sometimes, when a team or player is so damn good at a thing, a basic stat will do. The Current allowed 13 goals all season. Yes, in 26 games. That math is easy, and terrifying.

Ok I lied I had to show this too, because lmao. It’s the 'Final 1/3 Offensive g+ (goals added) Allowed’ for me. Basically you get nothing, in all likelihood you will not score, and you will go home, probably quite sad. That has been the Current in 2025.

This defensive foundation (plus the immense and inevitable threat of Chawinga) has allowed several players at the other end of the pitch to go absolutely bonkers. At several points this season multiple teammates joined Chawinga in putting up MVP-caliber runs. Vanessa DiBernardo (now pregnant) was on my shortlist in the early part of the season, Debinha was all over it until her midseason injury (but has returned in similar form), Michelle Cooper has had moments where she’s seemed unstoppable, and Bia Zaneratto has also been a nightmare to defend.

There is no escape from the Kansas City Current.

Game state is head coach Vlatko Andonovski’s secret weapon. When the Current get an advantage, they can often dictate how the rest of the match will go. It’s so vital that the usually risk-averse Andonovski will let his team rev at a million RPMs in the first half just to get an advantage. They still keep their defensive shape and foundation, but the name of the game is getting ahead of the opponent, because then he can turn the engines all the way down and focus on strangling the opposition. They go from Mad Max’ian terror soccer to boa constrictor football in the blink of an eye, or more accurately, however long it takes you to concede a goal.

There have only been a handful of times when a team fighting against the Current at full defensive stubbornness have been able to find anything they can add to the scoreboard. In fact it has only happened twice. Once in late April, and more recently (and weirdly) against the Dash in mid-October, after Chawinga was forced to leave the game with an injury in the 29th minute. I am sure Vlatko has used that game as a lesson heading into the playoffs, ‘Thanks Houston, signed everyone else.’

Player to Watch

No reason at all to for me to even try to be cute. Chawinga is officially listed as questionable due to the adductor injury suffered against the Dash, but she’s been listed as questionable before and has been in the starting XI, or not played at all.

Anyway, if she plays,

Lol. Lmao. Over 20% of the Current’s non-penalty expected goals (NPxG) are generated by Chawinga. Absurd.

Must-Win Matchup

The battle of wills. More on that later.

Style of Play

Get pressed in the mf’n face.

Gotham allow the second fewest expected goals against (xGA), only outdone by the aforementioned Kansas City Current. But the two go about it in different ways. The Current are more amoeba-like in their defensive approach, pressing on a team’s strengths until all that’s left is their weaknesses. Gotham, meanwhile, hit you in the face.

Not literally (well), but it can damn sure look and feel like it. Gotham head coach Juan Carlos Amorós is a bit of a mad scientist. His team’s passes per defensive action (PPDA) is the lowest in the league, and by a large margin. They take any attempt at buildup play as a personal affront and seek to stop it before it can even start.

They accomplish this by being incredibly fluid out of possession. Since it’s all about reacting with the sole purpose of winning the ball, players shift and rotate all over the pitch to block passing outlets or apply direct pressure. To illustrate, you may see Esther — star striker, finished second in the golden boot race — operating in midfield or fullback areas, and it won’t be the first time. It’s all about applying pressure to force mistakes and make teams one-dimensional.

Early in the season this was coming at a price. Having lost several attacking players, either through offseason moves away (Yazmeen Ryan) or injury (Rose Lavelle), Gotham had trouble finding the creativity to consistently take advantage of the chaos they produce. In the first half of the season they finished seven games with 1.1 xG or lower (5 losses), in the second half they had just three such games (1 loss).

They kept themselves afloat during that early run through nothing more than Esther and prayer. Now, due to players returning from injury and clever midseason recruitment, they’re cooking in attack again, and looking like the best version of themselves. Quick someone help me what happened the last time a Gotham team peaked late but just in time for the playoffs? Ah.

Players to Watch

Rose Lavelle has been in absolute demon mode this season. I played a fun little game on Bluesky by just dropping an FBref scouting report full of long, bright green bars, without identifying the player.

That player was Rose Lavelle this season. It hasn’t been a full 26 game season, but 16 appearances (13 starts) is a decent enough sample size to still be in awe of this.

Due to Lavelle’s injury history, I wasn’t sure if going to a team that demands an even higher than usual tier of intensity and physicality, but Lavelle is thriving. She’s grown a lot in her defensive capabilities, to the point where she can now credibly and comfortably play as a straight up center midfielder for club and country (she stills cares me when she flies into duels, but it’s fine, I’m working through it).

She can do this because she still possesses a uniquely saucy skillset that makes her difficult to mark anywhere on the pitch. She’s still capable of forcing a defense to mash its panic button even if she’s receiving a pass in her own half.

Partnering with her, courtesy of a surprise midseason trade, is Jaedyn Shaw. She’s another uniquely talented attacking player who multiple coaches seemed to misuse. With Lavelle healthy and cookin, it was interesting to see if Juan Carlos Amorós would be able to fit them both on the pitch. He has, and it’s been glorious.

Joining any team late in the season can be a struggle. Gotham’s system of organized chaos was probably even more daunting. But Shaw has fit in and been trusted straightaway by Amorós. Part of the reason is because, defensively, Shaw’s arrival allows Jaelin Howell to exchange some midfield creativity duties for her more natural Midfield Murder Machine duties.

If you were tasked with finding gaps in Kansas City’s typically airtight defense, Lavelle and Shaw would probably be among first ten players you’d call. Now they’re on the same team. So now, we wait.

Must-Win Matchup

Bothering Kayla Sharples.

Sharples has low key put in a defender of the year type season. She’s thrived in Vlatko’s setup, making sure that as the last line of defense she snuffs out any morsel of hope that leaks through. And she’s been incredible with the ball at her feet. When the Current need to step up to push the opposition deep in their own half, they can rely on her passing to help kickstart attacks.

Keeping her pinned back and uncomfortable will be necessary for Gotham to create chances and avoid being swamped by the Current’s insatiable need for a positive game state.

The game looks like a slow, professional, and composed game of soccer.

Chaos reigns.

This one is so hard because I can see Gotham doing the same sort of things they did in 2023. But it is not 2023, and this Kansas City team is a juggernaut with very few (if any) weaknesses. Temwa Chawinga not being able to play would change the dynamic, but wouldn’t change the fact that Gotham would need to score (likely multiple goals) on the most dominant defensive team the league has ever seen.

In my season preview I said Kansas City were pissed off and would make that everyone else’s problem. There’s no reason that shouldn’t still apply in the quarterfinal round, 2-0 to the Current.