That the Current are the best team in the league – hell, possibly the world – wasn't really in question. Getting a result away against a team running away with the table, on the cusp of history, on a legendary shutout streak... it was a lot to ask.
It's a little frustrating that the Reign limited Kansas City's chances so significantly and still wound up with two goals against. It's more than a little frustrating that at least one, and arguably both, of those goals against were started with unwhistled fouls. It's extremely frustrating to go into a match with a team getting healthier and come away with more health questions than we started after 90-plus minutes of excessively rough play and a center ref who couldn't be bothered to find cards for it until nearly the 90-minute mark.
It also just is what it is, and while the Reign did admirably to limit Kansas City's chances (the stat line will say 2.5 xG, but 1.4 of that came off a penalty and a sequence that should have been whistled dead in any universe except, apparently, this one), they didn't do enough to challenge the Shield winners. They took no shots the first half. Their first attempt came in the 63rd minute, their first actual chance in the 64th.
It's hard to win games when you have so little of the ball in dangerous places and so little influence over the match.
It's easy to lose games when you're under constant pressure to get everything right.
Alas, it would have been nice to ruin the Current's night a second time this year.
Goalkeeper
Claudia Dickey – 7 (POTM)
Plus. By far the most impactful Reign performance of the match, Dickey kept the Reign in it with 6 saves, including a big-time stop on Debinha to end the first half, a quality early save on Ally Sentnor to keep zeroes on the board, and a strong 72nd minute rejection on Beatriz that at least briefly kept the deficit to just one. She got a hand to Debinha's penalty, but it was ultimately struck too well for Claudia to keep out.
Minus. After showing world-class, almost preternatural ability to command the air in her first couple seasons, Claudia's fallen off severely this year, and that was on display again. She went up for a few crosses, but got a hand to zero. Her distribution remains, at best, a work in progress, especially on long passes.
Defenders
Madison Curry – 5
Plus. A nicely worked 90'+7 cross to Maddie Dahlien was about as close as the Reign came to scoring all night. While she only had four listed defensive actions, three of those came in the attacking half, as Curry, on an island providing verticality for much of the match, worked hard to try to spark something going forward. She also added 4 progressive passes from advanced positions, and hit a really beautiful cross-field switch late in the match that I'd love to see more of.
Minus. Sparking something going forward was not at all helped by her messy passing (55%), and her impact was negligible in the first half. While somewhat better in the second, she still didn't find a moment to change the trajectory of the game.
Yikes. Curry was on the receiving end of a shoulder charge through the back, cleats raked over her calf, and the last-gasp Hutton horror tackle. Somehow, only one of the three merited a card.
Phoebe McClernon – 6
Plus. Death, taxes, and Phoebe McClernon being in the right place to limit the danger. In the 72nd minute, Kansas City got out on a two-on-one counter, Debinha and Temwa Chawinga with just McClernon between them. McClernon played it brilliantly, cutting off Debinha's ability to find Chawinga with a simple pass and ultimately playing Chawinga offside, forcing Debinha to choose a worse option, and buying time for the defense to recover and Dickey to get a strong position. Yeah, four clearances, five recoveries, some good moment to moment counting-stats defense, but the 72nd minute was – or, at least, should have been – a game-defining moment.
Minus. Normally steady, the Current's pressure got to her at times, and Phoebe coughed up the ball three times on short passes. None were punished, but it was not great. In the 74th minute (immediately after Bugg was told to play on through getting her shins taken out), she got a solid block to a dangerous shot by Beatriz, but unfortunately the deflection went right to Chawinga at close range for Kansas City's second goal.
Lauren Barnes – 4 (off 46' for Maddie Dahlien)
Plus. As we've come to expect, Lu understood the assignment tactically, and kept to good positions, not getting drawn out into fights with Kansas City's press or getting into defending the counter at pace situations with a front line she would lose to every time. She had four clearances and played metronome as the centermost defender.
Minus. Lu was playing to grind a match out to 0-0, and with Debinha's penalty goal, that plan went out the window. She wasn't adding enough on either side of the ball to change things, and was the first sub of the night, part of a double switch at halftime.
Jordyn Bugg – 6
Plus. Bugg led the Reign with 64 touches, and she had her passes dialed in, especially in the second half as the Reign changed formation and started finding some moments to probe and test Lorena. Of particular note were Bugg's four completed long passes, her seven progressive passes, and free kick deliveries. When she's got the touch on her boots, Bugg can deliver a really beautiful ball, and can create a lot of opportunities with that. The Reign should try to take advantage of that more.
Minus. In the 72nd minute, Jordyn got really lost on the play, exposing McClernon to a 2-on-1 counter against Debinha and Chawinga, basically the absolute last pair of attackers you want to try to defend 2-on-1. Because of referee Shawn Tehini's abject cowardice with her whistle, Jordyn was dubiously credited with a lost challenge leading to the Current's second goal. I refuse to count it against her.
Ouch. On the Current's second goal, Haley Hopkins simply took Bugg out with a slide through both shins. Rather than being booked, or hell, even whistled, Hopkins was credited with a successful take-on.
Sofia Huerta – 6
Plus. As the Reign grew into the game a bit more with the formation shift in the second half, Huerta was a focal point for the offense, with 61 touches, 9 progressive passes, 8 passes into the final third, and 2 shot-creating actions. A set piece delivery gave Sally Menti a chance off the volley in the 63rd minute, and she played a bunch of quick overlaps with Maddie Dahlien as the minutes ticked on, a partnership that might pay real dividends if the Reign ever, like, settle on a formation and starting XI.
Minus. Though Sofia pumped in a ton of crosses, few of them were dangerous, and fewer fell anywhere close to a Reign player. She was (albeit, like most of the team) largely invisible for the first half, providing unused verticality opposite a similarly stymied Madison Curry. The second half was better, and she found moments to combine and provided forward momentum, but she couldn't ever find the right pass to unlock a ruthless Kansas City defense.
Midfielders
Sam Meza – 6 (off 87' for Ainsley McCammon)
Plus. It's not like it's surprising at this point, but Meza was the Reign's best, most active, most influential player not named Claudia Dickey. The midfield was overrun, but when she got on the ball, she consistently parlayed it into forward progress, with three progressive passes, three progressive receptions, and two successful dribbles. She was also, as usual, a defensive wrecking crew, winning five tackles and 5 of 8 duels in the midfield, and adding nine recoveries for good measure. Meza's engine lets her get everywhere and interfere with everything.
Minus. The midfield was overrun, and she coughed up the ball under pressure three times, one of them leading to a very dangerous early counter that Dickey was fortunately able to snuff out. It was also a rare match where Meza seemed to really struggle with her first touch, often needing a second to control, and against the swarming pressure Kansas City can bring, one extra touch tends to be one touch too many.
Angharad James-Turner – 3 (off 46' for Sally Menti)
Plus. There have been ups and downs to Haz's time in Seattle, but if there's one thing she brings, it's an understanding that it's okay to put in a tactical foul to shield the back line. There's sandpaper in her game, and sometimes you desperately need your midfield to provide a bit of friction. She provided that friction in slowing up Debinha and Rocky Rodriguez on several different occasions.
Minus. While Laura Harvey may have a point that a foul in the buildup went uncalled and created it, at the moment of the penalty, it's hard to argue. Handling is a rough one, but it was pretty clearly handling. And that penalty broke the Reign's game plan, forced early subs, and gave Kansas City a lead. Kansas City seldom relinquishes leads. Given the Reign's game plan, James-Turner was way too high up the pitch way too frequently, and it exposed Meza too many times. Notwithstanding the penalty and any arguments about it, the positional disconnect between the two midfielders was going to cause a problem sooner or later.
Weird. In a match where she seemed allergic to showing cards, Tehini threw an incredibly harsh early card to James-Turner for her inability to reverse time, as she kicked the ball roughly simultaneously to Tehini's whistle.
Forwards
Nérilia Mondésir – 4 (off 79' for Emeri Adames)
Plus. It was a rough night for the Reign's starting forwards, and Coco was no exception. Still, there were a couple moments. A fabulous wide run to get on to a quickly hit Mia Fishel ball. Tracking all the way back to absolutely blow up the play on a Kansas City counter not once, but twice. With Kansas City playing extremely physical, Mondésir's unfortunately well-practiced ability to play through it when she gets hacked and chopped showed some value was well.
Minus. Approaching halftime, Mondésir threw a shoulder through the back, and she rightly saw yellow for it, as players always should. (Ignore that Tehini had to that point, and again immediately after that point, treated shoulders through the back as play on or at worst a simple foul.) With Kansas City's pressure and quick engagement, Mondésir needed to get the ball off her foot a beat more quickly to beat them, and she couldn't find the moments of quality and composure to do that. In a starting front three, it is not good for your forwards to finish with a combined total of zero shots.
Jordyn Huitema – 4
Plus. It was a rough night for the Reign's starting forwards, and Huitema was no exception. She got under the defenders' skin, and her reward for that was eating a truly ludicrous amount of contact without the benefit of the whistle. Accounting for that, she still got into decent places repeatedly, and won three free kicks, two in dangerous spaces, out of the approximately 85 fouls she was subject to.
Minus. Under the pressure of Kansas City's extremely physical match strategy, Jordyn faded fairly quickly. Normally dominant in the air, the Current were able to throw her off (she won just two aerials in the match) with the time-honored tradition of "just foul the shit out of her and dare the ref to call it." The ref declined to, and Huitema was unable to adapt to the game as it existed. In a starting front three, it is not good for your forwards to finish with a combined total of zero shots.
Mia Fishel – 4 (off 53' for Jess Fishlock)
Plus. It was a rough night for the Reign's starting forwards, and Fishel was no exception. There were some flashes of the quality Big Fish can bring, though, and reasons to be very optimistic about what she's going to add in the future. In particular, despite completing just six passes, two of them were ridiculously incisive, cutting first time balls to spring an attacker on the opposite side. She's made that pass four times in the past 90 minutes of play, and it looks like a real repeatable piece of her game. She also showed flashes of fancy feet before Rodriguez simply took her out of the game for it.
Minus. Playing for 53 minutes, Fishel touched the ball just 14 times and completed just six passes. The moments weren't there, and she largely couldn't create them. In a starting front three, it is not good for your forwards to finish with a combined total of zero shots.
Infuriating. Fishel was taken out of the match by a reckless challenge that missed the ball and bent her ankle in a truly horrible way. No card was shown, even though it could've easily been Rodriguez's second yellow.
Substitutes
Maddie Dahlien – 6 (on 46' for Lauren Barnes)
Dahlien was the first of four substitutes who really brought it and improved the energy and vibes for the Reign, and despite (or because of) playing just a half, had one of the team's best showings. In 45-plus minutes, she had four shot-creating actions, four progressive passes, four progressive carries, two successful take-ons, a decent chance off a header, and some of the tidiest passing in the game, all on 21 touches.
Oh, and she probably should've won a penalty, but by that point Tehini had gone back to viewing charges through the back as oopsie-doodle play-ons.
Sally Menti – 6 (on 46' for Angharad James-Turner)
Menti was the second of four substitutes who really brought it, replacing a gritty but heavily struggling James-Turner and crashing forward often. She had the Reign's first registered shot, and shared the team lead for shots (with Jess Fishlock) with 3. With 41 touches, 8 progressive passes, and 4 shot-creating actions, she helped turn the match momentum in the Reign's favor, and was constantly forcing the Current's defenders to make hard choices with the Reign in possession.
She's still positionally suspect in defense, especially transition defense, but playing as a Very Attacking Midfielder, she clearly offers a lot.
Jess Fishlock – 6 (on 53' for Mia Fishel)
Fishlock was the third of four substitutes who really brought it, turning a short shift into the (shared) team lead for shots, popping up everywhere across the final third to will the Reign towards one more chance. 20 touches, 3 progressive passes, 2 shot-creating actions, and by far the Reign's best scoring opportunity of the game. In a very real way, everything changed when Fishlock came on. She unlocks everyone around her, she never stops moving, she sees the seams like few players do.
If the Reign could clone Jess Fishlock's effort, intensity, and vision, they would never lose another game.
Emeri Adames – 5 (on 79' for Nérilia Mondésir)
Adames was the fourth of four substitutes who really brought it, playing fairly short minutes but turning just 11-plus minutes and 6 touches into a surprising level of impact. After all, who needs more than six touches when you're parlaying them into a successful dribble and two shots? Who needs more than one completed pass when your one completed pass creates a dangerous final third entry for your streaking teammate? Obviously, the answer is "more of those things would be better", but Adames did a lot of good without a lot of the ball.
Now we just need to get her back in her scoring boots.
Ainsley McCammon – N/A (on 87' for Sam Meza)
McCammon played three minutes plus stoppage time. She didn't do much wrong, but she also didn't do much, generally. She had six touches, no defensive actions, and completed two of five passes.
Referee
Shawn Tehini – 1
Plus. Tehini showed up to the match and used her whistle to start and end proceedings.
Minus. But to be honest she may as well fucking not have. If I took the time to go through every increasingly incensed note I took across three watches, we'd be here all night. I'm not even going to worry about little things like "does persistent infringement exist" or "was a foul committed in the buildup to Kansas City's penalty" or "should it be a foul when the last defender commits a foul but it's almost halftime." Instead, let's just go over some of the greatest hits of a truly ignoble night:
Huitema was fouled three times in seven minutes, including two ugly through-the-back challenges, no cards shown. (Instead, Tehini simply stopped whistling it when Kansas City fouled her, as she took a minimum of three more shoulders through the back and two more late tackles throughout the game.)
Rodriguez shoulder-charged straight through Curry's back, no card shown. (Mondésir, however, would immediately see a card for a similar play moments later.)
Rodriguez missed the ball and took out Fishel's ankle, removing her from the game and possibly severely injuring her, no card shown. It could easily have been her second. (Despite Harvey's initial concern – and initial looks at the injury – Fishel was a full participant in training this week, and it seems less severe than initially feared.)
Chawinga raked Curry's calf with her cleats, no card shown.
Hopkins slide-tackled straight through Bugg's shin, taking her out of the play and directly leading to the second goal, no whistle or review, let alone a well-deserved card.
Hutton threw a flashing, neon, "cleats missed over the ball and went straight through the fucking shin with force" red card on Curry just before the final whistle. At a minimum her third cardable challenge, it was one that should've seen an immediate dismissal, and one she frankly should not have even been on the pitch to make at that point. Instead it got only a yellow and no further review or discipline.
The casual disdain for the mere concept of player safety was absolutely beyond the pale. Tehini is exceedingly lucky that Mia Fishel is the only player who left the pitch hurt, and exceedingly lucky that Fishel's injury wasn't as severe as it could have been. She won't always be exceedingly lucky when she actively encourages violent and dangerous play for 90+ minutes.
Bad calls happen. Officiating is hard, and the laws of the game afford the referee a great deal of leeway because the game is dynamic and keeping the spirit of the rules – and keeping the game flowing – is often more important than the minutiae. Cavalier disregard for player safety cannot. ever. fucking. happen. Not at any level, certainly not at a professional level. This wasn't just bad. This was reckless, utterly unacceptable, a throwback to the very worst of the league in its notoriously "physical" mid-2010s era. I hope I never have to watch officiating like it again.
And Another Thing!
Kansas City is the best team in the league and that's that on that. It would be a much easier prospect to salute their unimpeachable excellence if they'd keep their fucking cleats down. At the risk of publishing an extremely undiplomatic take, the Current are both the best and the most reckless team in the league, and the degree of physicality they bring is a clear notch above competitiveness or intensity.
Shawn Tehini was not even remotely up to the task of keeping that physicality in check. But then, few officials have been this season.
And unlike Laura Harvey, I am not going to get fined for saying as much.
