When two of the NWSL's highest-scoring teams meet in a playoff game, you can expect fireworks. The Kansas City Current will host Angel City FC at CPKC Stadium on Saturday at 12 p.m. ET on CBS, and the two sides are peaking at the right time as the postseason begins, with both clubs finishing the regular season with 54 goals scored.
Kansas City have a 32-game home unbeaten streak that dates back to 2024, making the riverfront home a place where visiting teams typically lose. Angel City return to the playoffs for the first time since 2023 on a 10-game unbeaten run, and are equally relentless on the road. Angel City won the first regular-season meeting between them at BMO Stadium, 2-1, back in May, while the rematch in August ended in a 1-1 draw in Kansas City.
Both teams took different paths to reach the playoffs and match up well on paper, but something has to give, and the winner advances to the semifinals. Here's everything you need to know about the big game on CBS: The 2025 NWSL Shield winners had a tough start to the season. After the team was bounced out of the 2025 playoffs in the opening round, Vlatko Andonovski moved to an executive role while the club brought in Chris Armas as new head coach.
Two-time Golden Boot winner Temwa Chawinga started the 2026 season on the injury report, and the club suffered multiple player departures, including Bia Zaneratto and Claire Hutton.\The early results were rough, with zero wins in the opening four games of the season, and players either not gelling together or occupying similar spaces or even running into each other. They maneuvered the first quarter of the schedule closer to the bottom half of the league table than the playoff line. There was a doubling down of questions about Armas, his limited knowledge of the NWSL and women's pro soccer, and whether or not injuries or absences kept him from rolling out a complete lineup.
But things finally shifted with the spring and, of course, the return of Chawinga. Midfielder Croix Bethune, who was acquired in preseason, grew into her role and set an NWSL single-season record with 11 assists, including six game-winning assists. Forward Haley Hopkins had a breakout season; after being traded to the club in 2025, she co-leads the team with Chawinga in goals (12) this year.
The roster's 54 goals are split across 13 different players. "I'd say that what's clear is that we've just come together. It's just an important time of year to have most of your players healthy.
Extract — continue reading at the source.
