Kansas City Current, Orlando Pride’s budding rivalry set for next chapter in massive NWSL showdown

The second half of the NWSL season of 2025 kicked in a high gear with the first place on Saturday Kansas City Current confronted with second place Orlando Proud In CPKC Stadium (4 p.m. on Paramount+ and CBS). It is a matchup that will place the calculated defense of Kansas City against the ruthless midfield of Orlando.

The current one has a 12-point lead between them and Orlando, and although one competition does not rotate the scales at all, it is a long-awaited encounter between two sides that have emerged as a few elite clubs of the competition.

In a competition that is only 13 years old, rivalry is still developing. Although Kansas City and Orlando do not have long history or even geographical relevance to point out reasons for rivalry, the two parties have the timing good. The pride are the ruling NWSL champions and NWSL Shield winners. Kansas City has been a play-off side in two of the last three seasons (second in 2022), and in 2024 Orlando eliminated the current in the semi-final. So sure, it’s not Batman vs. The Joker, just good old -fashioned persistent blood.

How Kansas City vs. Orlando

• Date: Saturday, August. 16 | Time: 4 p.m.
• Location: CPKC Stadium – Kansas City, Mo.
• Live stream: Paramount+ | TV: CBS
• Chances: KC -125; Sign +250; Orl +340

“This will just be a really exciting game. Of course we have a kind of rivalry with Orlando, I think in a certain sense, only because we have both won in each other’s houses so far. So I think this will be a big game. The last time they were here, and that was really difficult for us. So I think we want to change that and that of this Game Defender. Hailie Mace told CBS Sports.

Mace has been at the club since the inaugural season and has been a backline -not since she was traded there in 2021. She has seen the growing pains and has worked with various keepers since her arrival, but 2025 has a special cadence with Brazilian international Lorena Between the posts for Kansas City. The defense of the current leads the competition in clean sheets (eight) and is second general in recovery (709) and intercepts (164).

“[Lorena’s] Come in the team and did it very well. It is amazing that she is long and that she comes out and cross, grab corners, aggressive from her line. That makes us feel pretty safe as defenders, such as when teams want to threaten us behind, we know that we have a keeper who comes from her line and comes out and gets the ball crosses in the box. I feel that that is the way teams try to get goals against us. Early crosses, or just find different ways to break down or try to break down. So it’s really great to have a keeper who is comfortable and confident and comes in, secured the ball for us, “said Mace.

Lorena’s first year as a starting goalkeeper for the current also comes with evolution of other teammates. Defenders Kayla Sharples And Alana Cook came to the club last year through transactions and were the end of the play-off push of the club that ended in the semi-final.

This year, the defending unit had a completely low season to build up by 2025, but sometimes uncontrollable circumstances force adjustments. Cook suffered a seasonal ACL injury in May and veteran Eliabeth Ball has been performed in her place. Outside Izzy Rodriguez’s Have helped increased performance in developed attacks and have led to a American ladies national team evokes This summer. They are all just a sum of the defensive parts of Kansas City.

“I think we know the system now, we are able to bring that aspect more to the game, instead of always thinking like:” Oh, where should I be? ” We all know that we are in the right place, so being aggressive in those places helps us, “said Mace.

“We all have the feeling that we are on the same page. Everyone can get in one of the positions, and everyone knows their role and knows exactly what needs to be done. So it makes our lives just so much easier, knowing that everyone knows how to play the role, and we are all pretty familiar with each other now.”

This season is something else for teams. Kansas City still has a deadly attacker A collisionBut the defensive form has been drastically improved. Orlando’s dependence on a stable midfield, as achieved more narrow victories in their seasonal record. The pride has not won a game since June through a multi-goal margin and only have three games where they have defeated the opposition with two or more goals. Kansas City will try to take advantage of that fact and to ensure that the attack flows through the defense.

“We have the attacking firepower that every team probably wants them to have. But I think our team is so good defensive and so disciplined, and we have this structure that we have very confident about, and I think that is a big step. A large area where we have grown here,” Mace said.

“I just feel that it is very difficult for teams to break down. And play in a system where you feel that way, it just brings a lot of confidence to everyone. So every time we get on the field, we know that this team will work super hard, and then the attacking side will come from it.”

The evolution of Kansas City of bleeding goals at the beginning of last season to lead the competition in Clean Sheets is a remarkable turnaround. Defenders are intentional when they are on the ball. Make sure there is movement to force the opponent in uncomfortable positions or allow offensive players to reset and be patient to return “to attack and build,” Mace explained.

“I think this has helped us to be more successful. Keep the ball more, so that we don’t have to run that much, and then defensive, just like mentality in the box. Being aggressive, being more vocal and being more on the front foot,” she said.

While the season starts with his descent in the Play -Off Push, Top teams will have goals on their backs. Kansas City, as managerial leaders of the competition, is the group that chases everyone, even Orlando. The traditionally long NWSL season means that most coaches and teams do not really discuss the table and the rankings until a certain time. With 10 more weeks left, this is the moment when seasonal goals become more realistic.

But for Mace and Kansas City they have to prove even more, a different equipment they want to touch, and they want to do exactly that against other elite teams.

“Of course we talk about the table and the rankings and the points we have, but to be honest, we talked a lot about it, just like getting good performances and playing good … So I think more than getting points, we want to build these versions and be better, so that the play -offs come, we are now at the top of our game and we have played super well.