Pride Night at CPKC

The most important of all the theme nights

Another win in the books for the Kansas City Current, and to my great joy, it’s getting difficult to find standout things to write about on the pitch. The team is in great form, the stars are starring, the vibes are immaculate. My core belief about this sport is that what makes it so special is the sense of connectivity between a club and its community - and that the KC Current are doing that in a way that feels truly remarkable. Saturday may have been a routine win, but it wasn’t a routine night at the stadium.

It was Pride Night. So it meant a little bit more.

Kansas City, A City Full Of Pride

I want to kick this off by talking a bit about Kansas City. This is a city full of history, especially on the margins. In 1966, Kansas City’s Stats Hotel on 12th and Wyandotte hosted 40 people for a two-day conference, the folks in this conference would go on to found the North American Conference of Homophile Organizations and become pillars of the early gay rights movement. Kansas City’s Gay Pride Festival, now known as KC PrideFest, turned 50 this year, holding its first ever festival in 1975. Kansas City was also home to the nation’s only urban, lesbian-created community - called Womontown and spanning 14 blocks in Midtown’s Longfellow neighborhood.

Bringing it to modern day - Kansas City is in many ways, a queer oasis in an intolerant part of the country. There are plenty of folks who call Kansas City home who have a shared story, leaving small-town Missouri or Kansas because being LGBTQIA+ in the place they were born and raised meant that they were marginalized deeply - but they could go to Kansas City and be their full selves. There are neighborhoods like Volker where you can’t walk down two blocks without seeing a pride flag outside of a house, twelve months a year. There are spaces like Missie B’s and Bistro 303 that are seminal parts of Kansas City’s LGBT scene, new arrivals on the scene like Gael’s Public House and Q, institutions like Stonewall Sports. This city is gay as hell. If you’re a social person in this city, there’s a 100% chance that you have gay friends.

The other sports teams in this city have done stuff for Pride. I’m not going to deny that. But like every other ‘major sports’ team in the United States, the most common demographic is straight men. When I think of the typical Chiefs fan, a certain type of person comes to mind. He loves to grill, drink a few beers, and watch football with the boys on a Sunday. When I think of a typical Sporting KC fans, it’s a similar image, a dude with a beard who just loves to say the word “fuck” in soccer chants. When I think of a typical KC Current, fan, though? I think of a queer person who’s found a level of community that they’ve never really experienced in a sporting context when they go to CPKC Stadium. The historic nature of this club is something the whole city is proud of - but its most important to women, and especially queer women, who don’t have to fit into another dominant culture, because they got to create their own. They’re the lifeblood of the fanbase.

The links between the Kansas City Current and the city’s LGBTQIA+ community are inextricable, and last 12 months out of the year. Pride flags and trans flags are waved at every home game. But that doesn’t make Pride Night any less important. In my estimation, this was the hottest ticket of the season, except for maybe the opener. There were a lot of folks there who weren’t regulars, but who came for Pride Night. To be part of the celebrations and the moment, on the day of the No Kings rallies across the nation in particular, wasn’t just about soccer. It was about healing, it was about escapism, it was about making a statement. And with the tifo crafted and painted by the KC Blue Crew - a statement was made.

I’ve got to imagine there were a lot of first-time attendees at CPKC this weekend. They will (in my view) be all but guaranteed to have a good time walking around the stadium, eating the food from the local restaurant vendors, and taking in the atmosphere, getting lost in the pageantry of it all. But when the whistle blows, your level of enjoyment is now in the hands of 22 athletes. As they’ve done so often this season, the KC Current gave the fans plenty to cheer for. Let’s dig into the game a bit.

I’m Running Out Of Things To Say About Michelle Cooper.

No analysis to this one, just pure stanning. This time last year, I thought I was looking at Michelle Cooper with rose-colored glasses. Her personality was so infection, her improvement was so clear to see, that I really just wanted her to be in the starting lineup every week. Plus, it makes the pregame introductions that much more fun. But by the mid-point of the season, I wanted her to be in the starting lineup because she deserved it, and she pretty much kept her spot throughout the year. In the off-season, I maintained hope that she’d make the USWNT Futures Camp and I made a bold, rose-colored prediction that if she somehow got into the USWNT senior team, she’d take her chance. And somehow, I undersold it.

Fifteen minutes into the game, Michelle Cooper was a couple fine margins away from having two assists and a goal. Her ability to cross the ball is just outstanding - she loves the low cross which she pinged into Chawinga perfectly for what ended up being a disallowed goal in the 4th minute, but she managed to float a cross in when that was the right move - it didn’t count as an assist because the person to head the ball in the net played for Racing Louisville. Two actions within the first five minutes that showed why she is a lock for Emma Hayes’ next USWNT roster.

Then, with 14 minutes to go, she got beyond the Louisville back line. Big credit to Hailie Mace for playing the ball while Coop was still in her own half, and giving her the opportunity to run at the keeper one on one with plenty of space and time. Honestly, that amount of time and space can be a blessing and a curse depending on how confident a player is feeling. It can be a lot of time to think about how you’ll get the shot off, make you feel like you have a second or two to slow down. I’ve seen plenty of one on one chances like that missed because of a delay in decision making, or a proactive keeper. But sometimes, when a player is playing well enough, you feel ready to celebrate the goal before it’s even happened. The finish oozed confidence. The run towards the goal left both options open, to try and curl it into the far post or fire it into the near post. The shot wasn’t telegraphed, but it was just hit brilliantly, low and at pace. By the time the keeper dove - the ball had hit the back of the net. Watching it back - the ball hits the bottom of the net, has so much momentum that it rolls up the net, keeps rolling when it hits the top of the net, then bounces BACK to the back of the net again. Never in doubt.

I’ll say it - I really think that Michelle Cooper is a top 5 attacker in the NWSL this season. The stats support it - she has the highest combined xG and xA (granted, a limited sample size) in the league. The eye test supports it, she’s extremely dangerous whenever she’s on the ball in a positive situation. Amidst some truly outstanding attackers on the KC Current team, on the opposite side of last year’s MVP, she continues to stand out game after game.

The Empress Is In Flow

The KC Current released a video with Bia talking to her father a couple of months ago, he said that ‘football isn’t played with your feet, it’s played with your heart’. Bia is at her best when she plays when fully in the flow state, trying things and expressing herself and fully confident in her actions. She put in another stellar performance that included a goal, and that wore out the Louisville backline. Her goal showed a player confident and in form. One of my favorite qualities in a soccer player, usually associated with midfielders and playmakers, is pausa- the ability to wait and slow the game down while in possession of the ball. Bia has pausa, and showed it by taking a couple of extra touches before laying it off to Vanessa DiBernardo. Instead of making a run into a crowded area- she had the awareness to just stand still when she had space and call for the ball, and the return pass was side-footed into the bottom corner.

Deja Vu… Almost

I’ve said before that the 3-3 draw against Racing Louisville at home last year was one of my favorite matchday memories of 2024. Well let me tell you - I was having absolutely zero fun when everything was set up (from conceding another set piece goal - YAY!) for the possibility of another 3-3 draw to this team.

Enter the MVP, doing something that only she can do - taking a ball that looks impossible to get to, and beating the defender to the ball with tremendous pace. Temwa’s got a few signature finishes, but taking the ball around the keeper and slotting it into an empty net is one that feels sensational to watch from the stands. Everything about this goal was something to marvel at - getting on the end of a pass that I didn’t think she had a chance at. Being in full control of her body shape and leaving two defenders and the goalkeeper helpless. And doing it all at the very end of the game. Her pace is so well known, her ability to get past defenders due to this blistering mix of pace, dribbling, and body control is well known. But the stamina, the ability to do something like this at the very end of a game she’s played the entirety of? It’s special. This is the second time Temwa’s done this, a “victory cigar” of a goal that takes all the anxiety away and confirms the win. What a feeling it gives you.

Next Up, Angel City at home for the final game of the first half of the season. No matter the result, the KC Current are going into the summer break on the top of the table, a place they haven’t relinquished control of since they got it from Orlando. Six dropped points out of 36 is a really incredible pace, and what I marvel at is that… we haven’t even hit our final form. Debinha was playing like an MVP candidate until her injury, and Bia basically tagged in and took over the role of Brazillian superstar attacker without a hitch. Eventually, we will see all four superstar KC Current attackers healthy and in form at the same time - let’s hope it’s playoff time.